SAO: Dragon of Aincrad
by garnichts
Summary: Kirito is a dragon. One that has lived in Aincrad his whole life. When the adventures or players as they call them selves lose their immortality Kirito steps up to lead those willing to fight to bring a end to the Ruby Kings rule and save those trapped in his home. Will they learn his secret and what will their reactions be? Can he protect his friends?
1. Chapter 1

For as long as Kirigaya Kazuto, or Kirito to his friends, can remember he has lived with his family on the 80th floor of Aincrad. His parents died when he was very young so his aunt and uncle took him in. When he learned of this Kirito started to retreat inside himself and distance himself from his family. That was until his grandfather set him straight and pointed out how much pain he was causing his family. Especially his little sister, Suguha. Who cares that she isn't really his sister or Midori isn't his mother or that Minetaka isn't his father. They raised him, treated him like a son/brother, and still unconditional love him even as he grew more distant. With this realization he rekindle his family bonds and even grow closer to his grandfather. Life was pretty great for Kirito. His father took over sword lessons when his grandfather passed away and his mother taught him magic which like most dragon Kirito had a natural affinity for. The most important spell that all dragons are taught from almost day one is how to take a human form so Kirito to go to local town or play with his sister in the woods and not raise alarms.

Dragons were by and large a highly independent group in Aincrad not really bothering with other and just doing a the please. Though being a giant nigh-invincible creature with wings certainly helped that mentality. When the Ruby King took over Aincrad he wanted to either eradicate or enslave the dragon like he had done with so many other races in Aincrad. So 100,000 monsters marched on their home with the intent to raid and kill the Kirigaya family. It ended as a horrible failure. Midori just changed into her dragon form and as a giant white dragon flew down and froze, ate, or otherwise destroyed all the attackers sparing one which was sent back to report on the massacre. The Ruby king, wisely, decide not to send another attack seeing and the Kirigaya's didn't actively try disrupt his rule or cause much problems so he for the most part left them alone and them him. From the Kirigaya's standpoint the monsters stayed in their designated summoned areas and the denizens of Aincrad, for the most part, just stayed in their towns were ancient magic could keep them safe. Even when the ruby king summoned up 99 powerful monsters to help guard each floor and limit travel between them they could just fly down or up if they had to get around so it had very little effect on their day to day lives.

* * *

Kirito was fourteen when his mom came to him and told him about the rumors of adventures on the first floor. "This is your chance. Go my son meet new people, make friends, maybe even find a girl." Midori said the last part with a wink. Kirito took this idea to heart and fueled by his adventurous spirit he flew down to the first floor to help the adventures. The going was tough at first. If Kirito went anywhere in his dragon form and an adventure or group of adventures would almost always come running up and shout something along the lines of "In the name of justice you evil monster will be slain on this day and the legend of Meatball(or some equally silly name) will live on in legend." Most of these fights were solved with a quick jet of black flame that burned the adventure to a crisp causing them to reform(or respawn at the adventures called it) at the nearest town. The second major obstacle was the slang the adventure used. Things like DPS(Damage Per Second) or Logout(The magic that allowed a adventure to return home) and some of the more confusing ones like NPC(Anyone who isn't an adventure) or Player(Which for some reason is what the adventures refer to each other as). Though to help with this Kirito made his first friend, Argo, an information broker and you get past her teasing nature not a bad friend and traveling companion.

Throughout what was called the Beta period when the first group of adventures would scout out and try and get as far as possible into Aincrad before retreating and coming back with more people Kirito made a name for himself as The Black Swordsman and obtained minor celebrity status and a lot of challengers for sword duels. At boss fights when a floor boss was challenged he would work with a expert shield user named Diavel and his unit. But all good things must come to an end and soon the Beta period ran out.

On the last day of the beta Kirito, Diavel, Argo, and many other players had a party of sorts to celebrate the battles fought and friendships made that would hopefully continue when they came back with the reinforcements.

"Cheers." Shouted Diavel raising his glass into the air. A action mirrored many others in the room.

Diavel made his way over to the table with Argo and Kirito who already deep in a conversation.

"You know for a complete noob you are surprisingly good with a sword Kii-bou." Argo said with a smirk on her lips.

"She's Right Kirito. I remember the first time we teamed up I had to explain what DPS and switching was and now look you. You're The Black Swordsmen." Said Diavel while taking a seat next to the pair.

"Ya, and thanks for everything guys, I can't wait till can meet up and finally push to the top floor." said Kirito trying to take the focus of his impressive repertoire of skills and achievements.

"The one thing that I still wonder about is that Black dragon that was seen on the first few days of the Beta the disappeared." said Argo 'Even I have no info on the thing other that it's really dangerous."

"Oh does the great Rat not have info on something." Said Kirito smirking earning a chuckle from Diavel and a smile from Argo.

"Ya ya. Laugh it up. Like you know something I don't." replied Argo

Kirito briefly considered spilling the beans to his two friends , but decided against it. Who know what they would do and Kirito really didn't want to lose his two friends.

At the end of the night Kirito went home and told more tales of adventures to his little sister and spent some time sparing with his father while starting the month long wait for the full force of adventures to come and Kirito's friends to return. Who know what adventures are in store and Kirito even gets to help the adventures end the rule of the tyrannical Ruby King. Kirito could barely wait.

* * *

Hey the story idea was inspired by another story called Hope in the deep by Hector flores with my own spin added to it. SO I own nothing except the plot I guess(even though most of that is taken from SAO it's self. Welp I guess read, review, and follow if you enjoyed this and I will try to get another update out soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally the day had come. Kirito was ecstatic as he flew down to the first floor and ran toward the city of beginnings to find his friends and start clearing floors. Unfortunately in his rush to leave home he left all of his weapons in his room. Much to his embarrassment Kirito headed to the weapon smith to obtain some starter weapons till he could get a better weapon. Kirito heard a shout from behind him before being tackled to the ground by a cloaked figure.

"Kii-bou!" Kirito just sighed in response. "WILL you ever call me by my real name and why Kii-bou?"

The clocked individual now identified as Argo let go so Kirito could pull himself up it was then that he noticed a second maroon haired individual behind Argo with a look of admiration on his face.

"Who's this, Argo." asked Kirito.

"Oh this is Mr. Pervert." replied Argo "He tried to hit on me and is now hoping that I could teach him some starter tips being a beta and all."

"Hi my name is Klein." said the maroon haired as he stepped up to shack Kirito's hand.

"So how about you help me out Kii-Bou?" Asked Argo

"200 col." replied Kirito evenly.

"So cruel." said Argo with mock sadness while handing Kirito a sack of coins.

* * *

After the deal was made Kirito took Klein out to the fields to hunt some boars. To put it simply his swordsmanship was awful. Kirito found himself laughing at Klein as he rolled around clutching his family jewels after taking a partially well aimed charge from a boar.

"You feel no pain man. Just get up." Kirito was able to get out between chuckles.

"Oh ya. I guess muscle memory, huh." replied Klein getting up.

Trying not to thing to hard on the current subject, but considering how Argo introduced him not a big surprise, Kirito tried to help Klein at least get used to sword skills.

"You're too rigid. Try relaxing at letting the power flow through you before letting it explode."

"Let it explode." whispered Klein at the boar charged again. This time his sword glowed yellow before cutting the boar in half.

"Yes this is awesome" Shouted Klein while receiving a high-five and a smile from Kirito.

"Shall we continue the hunt?" asked Kirito

"Of course I just killed a field boos so some smaller mobs should be much easy for a great fighter like me." said Klein with a huge smile on his face.

Kirito fell over with laughter at this before finally pointing at the field so Klien could see more boars just like to one he killed spawning all over the field.

"They're the weakest creature in the area." said Kirito "but either way let's go."

* * *

Over the next couple hours Kirito teached some more sword play to Klein and let him get a majority of the kills since Klein was level 1 and Kirito was level 65. Klein was a fast learner and soon was taking out groups without much of a problem sometimes without using sword skills. When they finally took a break Klein asked him if he wanted to friend him to which Kirito accepted whole heartedly since Klein was a nice guy.

"Well I am going to log off now to have dinner." said Klein who was now level 4

Kirito knew it was common for adventures to return home to eat. "Ya too bad food only fills you up on this side of things."

"Hey Kirito would you want to meet some of my friends some time." asked Klein

"Sure, but there are some thing I need to collect first so maybe some other day."

'Ya sure and thanks for everything." Said Klein while scrolling through his menu "where's the logout button?"

"I don't know" said Kirito "try asking a GM." GM's were a group of old bearded humans who had some limited magic powers(Maybe the power comes from the beards) and usually helped adventures in needed.

"I am trying but they aren't responding." Klein responded sounding a little worried.

 **Bong**

 **Bong**

 **Bong**

* * *

Suddenly Klein disappeared. Now Kirito was worried. He ran toward the town of beginnings to see if Argo could help find his friend. When he arrived the town center was blocked off by invisible wall of force and a giant cloaked being hovered above the square.

 **..If your HP reaches Zero you will die in both the virtual world and the real world.**

What had the Ruby King found some way to remove the adventures immortality? Are they no longer able to respawn? It was then that Kirito noticed Klein who was looking scared though most of the people in the square were. Kirito tried to get to him but an invisible was stopped his progress.

 **The only way to escape is to beat all 100 floors. Lastly I have a present for you all. Check your inventories.**

Kirito noticed several players pull out mirrors before being surrounded by bright blue Klein once stood a more rouge-ish looking man took his place. So this must be what the adventures really look like.

 **Best of luck Players!**

As the robed figure disappeared so did the force wall keeping Kirito out. As panic issued Kirito rushed over and grabbed Klein to pull him out of the square.

In an alleyway Klein finally snapped out of his shock.

"Why do you look the same? Did you choose your avatar to look like your real world appearance Kirito." asked Klein

"Ahhh ya. That's not really important now. I am going to leave to collect some stuff from before the fields are picked clean. How about you come with." said Kirito

Klein looked taken aback before responding "What about my friends?"

 _Thats right. I can't ask him to forget his friends, but more people. Until I get some decent weapons I don't know if can protect them all._

Seeing Kirito's hesitation Klein smiled and put a hand on his his shoulder. "Its ok. I can handle it you get going. Those important stuff won't find itself.

"No. I can leave whenever." said Kirito with a look of determination. "Klien get your friends and meet me at the North gate. I can spend a day or two teaching you guys before leaving."

'Ok." said Klein before running off. Kirito went to grab some more health potions with his extra col he had left over from the beta period. On they way to the north gate Kirito noticed two little girls not much older than his sister. One was crying her eyes out while other tried to comfort her.

"Can I help you guys?" Asked Kirito.

The girls seemed shocked for a sec.

The non crying one was first to respond. " My name is Aiko and this is my sister Yuuki. You look like you know what you're doing. Were you a Beta?"

"Yes, and I am heading to the North Gate to train some friends of mine."

"Can we come to? I want to fight!" Said Aiko

"Are you sure?" Kirito said hesitantly looking at Yuuki.

"Yes." Said Yuuki wiping away tears. "I want to fight and become strong. There is so much I can experience here we can't back home."

Kirito just nodded before running toward the North gate with the two sisters hot on his heels.

 _I will do my best to train and help those who are now trapped in my home._ Thought Kirito as he neared the gate and Klein's group.

* * *

Thanks for the support and I hope you favorite, follow and review. Especially the lost one. For better or for worse its good to know where I stand and if my writing skills could use some work so criticism is always welcome. Ya I know this update cam out the day after, but I had a lot of ideas and I might as well use them before they dry up.


	3. Chapter 3

Kirito stood on a hill overlooking a plain beneath him several groups of would be adventurous trained on the boars while Klein and Friends helped teach sword skills. Yesterday after the announcement he had helped train both Klein's group and the Konno sisters Yuuki and Aiko. All of them like Klein were fast learners, especially Yuuki and Aiko. They had both taken the one-handed no shield style that Kirito uses and with his overview speedly took down whole groups by themselves. Yuuki was to Kirito's great surprise almost as fast as him in a fight and with a lot more training might even have a better reaction time. This morning on the way to the fields several other parties asked for help having seen Kirito training people the day before and so with some help from Klein's friends he was able to give them the basics. Unfortunately for all those who didn't use a one-handed longsword Kirito could only give limited directions and general advice but still they were coming along nicely. Yuuki and Aiko were currently practicing behind him on a group of Kobold Scouts. Whenever they appeared from the summons spell the Konno sisters would just kill them again. It was good practice for facing opponents that could use sword skills as well. Kirito looked up at they sky. It was mid-afternoon. Kirito waved Klein.

"So as I said yesterday I will be leaving soon." said Kirito as Klein

"I expected as much. Thanks for everything with the skills you showed us and the others we will have a higher chance of surviving." said Klein as stuck he shook Kirito's hand

"If you ever need anything just message me and I will come running if I can."

"Are you leaving?" Kirito spun and to see Aiko and Yuuki had come up behind him while he was talking to Klein.

"Yes, Yuuki. There are several things I would like to collect before I challenge the first floor boss."

"We will come to Sensei." Aiko said earning a nod from Yuuki.

"Are you sure?" asked Kirito earning a determined look from the sisters.

"Ok so with that decided." said Klein "Me and my friends were stay here to help train the newbies and practice the skills you showed us. Good luck and come back alive man. If you die how will I repay my debt to you."

* * *

A week later the group of Kirito, Yuuki, and Aiko stood in front of a dungeon on the edge of the first floor. They had made a small detour to Horunka village to get everyone a Anneal Blade. That had taken a couple of days as the flower need to help the village with make some medicine required killing a lot of the local monster until they got enough. They almost got killed when a kid by the name of Coper tried to set of a trap and so the monsters would kill them, but Kirito's skills combined with Yuuki and Aiko cleaned the forest out really fast and helped speed up obtaining the flowers. Unfortunately for Coper the Little Nepenthes, the creatures that dropped the flower, hunted by smell not sight so they found Copers hiding place and overwhelmed him.

"So this is the Dungeon of endless death? Doesn't look so scary." said Aiko looking up at the arched entrance with a little confusing on how the place earned it's name.

"Ya, I know. Said Kirito, "but only there is a very powerful sword hidden at the end or so the legend claims."

"Wait you don't know if it's actually their?!" shout Yuuki

"Well not really but it's worth a look. You guys will wait out here and fight some orcs in the nearby camps."

"No Sensei we want to come with. We are strong enough and who will watch back if we aren't." whined Yuuki. Kirito by this point was still level 65 while Yuuki was 8 and Aiko 9. Mostly the reason Kirito didn't want them to come was the legend spoke of a powerful mage who burned all who tried to get his sword and while fire was ineffective vs him it certainly would be effective against the Konno sisters.

"No you guy aren't strong enough. WIth my level having I should have no problem." Kirito replied evenly.

"Ok." said the sisters looking a little down. "But if you need any help don't hesitate to ask." said Yuuki.

"If I need help you guys would the first I call." Replied Kirito patting her on the head affectionately causing Yuuki to blush as Kirito entered the Dungeon of endless death.

* * *

As Kirito explored deeper into the Dungeon of endless death he came across several groups of orcs and goblins before coming to what looked to be a throne room of some sorts. A man in colorful robes with a staff in hand and sword at his waist stood at the other end of the room next to his throne while being flanked by a half-dozen orcs in chainmail who had above average equipment(for an orc) and looked to be a bit bigger and stronger than the ones he had fought earlier.

"I am Melvin the Magnificent Master of the Arcane arts. Who might you be peasant?"

 _Wow this guys is just a little full of himself_ thought Kirito while preparing himself for a fight.

"HA. You aren't even worth my time. Guards kill this fool!" and with that the orcs charged.

Kirito just smiled and use **Vorpal Strike** to charge into the lead orc impaling his sword in the unlucky guards heart before whipping his sword out its corpse and decapitating the second orc. The sound of glass followed leaving no remains. If the surviving orcs were at all affected by the display they didn't show it as the third orc swung at Kirito with his greatsword using **Avalanche**. Kirito used **Snake Bite** a two hit Sword skill to both deflect the sword and then impale the third orc killing him as well. The fourth and fifth orc tried a combined assault that drove Kirito back before he use **Slant** to go under one of their guards and kill the unfortunately attacker before easily overpowering the second attack and killing him as well. Kirito was looking around. _Where did the orc go_ , Kirito thought. He suddenly felt a pain in his back as the last orc showed himself by shoving his sword into Kirito's unguarded back. Kirito looked at his health bar seeing it drop to 75% he spun around using **Horizontal** to end the last orc. _If I ever tell this troy to someone I leave out the part of the backstabbing orc. Also I should work on my Searching skill because that was just embarrassing._ Thought Kirito as he pulled out the orcs weapon.

"So you're good young swordsmen." said Melvin "but no human can hope to survive my mastery of the Arcane arts. Now Burn!" and with that Melvin launched a ball of fire at Kirito.

Kirito took the hit head on before disappearing into the smoke cloud.

"Ha no one has ever survived my mighty ball of fire and that was my weakest spell. My mastery of the Arcane arts is unequalled" Unfortunately, for Melvin when the smoke cleared Kirito was still standing and Melvin noticed he didn't seem the least bit hurt by the fire.

"But how is this possible?" Melvin shouted stumbling back onto his chair "My magnificent magic should have burnt you to a crisp."

Kirito just shrugged and started walking slowly toward the throne and Melvin.

"Then my minion will destroy you." Melvin slammed his staff on the ground and stepped back as the staff twisted and morphed into a treant. Which growled at Kirito before charging him. Kirito just stopped his advance, sheathed his sword, clapped his hands around his mouth like he was about shout something, and then let loose a torrent of black flames which consumed the treant. Melvin looked on in horror as his servant was consumed and fragmented into crystal like the orcs before it. Kirito walked forward and stopped at the throne and looked down at the wizard cowering in his chair.

"Ummm you have passed the test!" Melvin said trying to hide how shaky his voice was.

"A test?" said Kirito with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes! A test and now Melvin we give you a gift!"

"What do I win?"

"A sense of victory and a good life experience." Melvin said with a hopeful expression

"How about Dark Dawn the sword that is supposedly held here" replied Kirito

"That sword has been in my family for generations and…"

'So does that mean I can't have it?" Asked Kirito reaching for his sword on his back.

"NO! I just wanted to tell you how important it is." Said Melvin hastily giving Kirito the sword from its sheath.

"Anything else I can do for you." Said Melvin wanting this unwanted and very dangerous guest away from his home as soon as possible.

"Yes actually." said Kirito with a smirk gracing his lips. "How much col do you have?"

* * *

Yuuki and Aiko sat outside the Dungeon taking a rest from a day of grinding orcs when Yuuki saw Kirito exiting the dungeon with rifling through a sac in his hands before coming to a stop at the pair.

'So was the sword there?" Yuuki asked

"Yes." Replied Kirito drawing out Dark Dawn. It was a black(of course) long-sword with a sun shaped cross guard. The sleek black metal seemed to glow with a faint purple light.

"Wow with these stats it should last you awhile." said Aiko excitedly while examining the sword.

"Now where to Kirito?"

"There is a very important quest we must do now!" said Kirito with a look of unnatural determination on his usually laid back features.

"Another weapon? Or some kind of high quality armor?" asked Yuuki excitedly

"Neither. Cream!"

"Cream" said the sisters sharing a confused look.

"Yes for putting on bread. It makes the food here amazing!" Replied Kirito

"Right." said Aiko sharing another look with Yuuki "Whatever you think is best Sensei."

Aiko had to admit the bread they had been eating on this floor could definitely use some more flavor and if Kirito said it was good. Well he knew food and this game so she would trust him plus under his tutelage her and Yuuki had reached a strength they thought they would never have.

* * *

Kirito and co were heading to the town of Tolbana because Kirito received a message from Argo saying someone had found the boss room and was going to be holding a meeting with the intent to clear it and Argo wanted him and his two students to be there as they were some of the strongest fighters currently trying to clear Aincrad. After sending a message of to Klein and his group they started to make their way to Tolbana. As they were walking through the woods killing a wolf or two every now and then that got in there way they came to a clearing where a single swordsmen stood surrounded on all sides by wolves. The Swordsmen was covered by a cloak obscuring had a rapier in their hand and seemed to be exhausted from constant fighting. One of the wolves jumped forward. The Rapier user dodged then used a **Linear** bring the wolf down to about 10% health which the rapier user followed up with a second **Linear** killing the wolf.

"Wasteful. The Wolf was almost dead why waste the energy on another sword skill?" whispered Kirito. The rapier user seemed to stumble from exhaustion before collapsing to the ground. Kirito wasted no time as he jumped into the clearing and used **Serration Wave** to slow down and push the twenty or so wolves away from the collapsed adventure. Yuuki and Aiko took to the field killing wolves left and right while Kirito made sure that none got near the rapier user. After the area was cleared they reconvened over the rapier user's body.

"So we probably should take them to a safe zone. I think there was one a little ways back." said Yuuki

"I agree and having the highest strength so I will probably be the one to carry them." Kirito said while lifting the rapier user up and making his way in the direction Yuuki pointed. After a couple of minutes they reached the safe zone, but before Kirito could put the rapier user down they woke up and screamed while slapping Kirito making him drop her. _Yes definitely a her,_ thought Kirito as he fell backwards. They quickly explained that no they weren't trying to do anything bad they just saw her collapse and wanted to get her somewhere safe. Finally Kirito spoke up.

"Your good, but your style is unrefined. Your use sword skills when it is unnecessary and wasting energy."

"Why does it matter?" said the girl "They are dead."

Kirito was slightly surprised by the lack of emotion in her voice. So Aiko spoke up.

"You could die! You almost did when you collapsed! When was the last time you slept?" She all but shouted

The girl pulled back the hood and two thoughts struck Kirito. The first was _This girl is beautiful_ The second being _this girl is dead inside, you can see it in her eyes, she has already given up._ As if to confirm his suspicions the girl spoke up.

"We are all going to die here. I am going to make sure that this game doesn't break me."

Kirito and Aiko were stunned by this. Could she be this far gone.

"You can't give up! We can survive and defeat this game." said Yuuki who was now in tears, "There is so much you can see hear why give up now when you still have so much left to live for!"

As Aiko tried to get Yuuki to settle down Kirito took his chance to speak.

"There is meeting in Tolbana in a couple days to defeat the first floor boss. You should come and help. Your good. If we win we will be one step closer to defeating this game." Kirito heard the adventures, especially during the beat, refer to this as a game which made more sense when they could respawn but do they still think that way even after everything that's happen. He handed the girl a loaf of bread.

"I don't know when you last ate, but I hope to see you at the meeting in a couple of days." to which the girl nodded before getting up and moving on. Kirito just sighed. _I hope she will be ok._ Kirito thought as he made his way to Yuuki and Aiko so they could continue on to Tolbana.

* * *

So ya as always I own nothing except maybe the plot(though that can be debated) and all right go to their original owners. For those who are wondering(If anyone is) why I updated my story so often recently its because I have had so much free time and I had a bunch if Ideas that I wanted to actually use.

I also got asked some questions which since I have like 4 reviews(At least at the time of the posting) I kind of feel obligated to reply to.

First being I don't actually know what I am going to do at the end of Aincrad. I would kind of like to move on to ALO, but meirmamuka makes a good point that Aincrad doesn't have to be destroyed.

The second being that as cool as it would be to do all 100 floors it would also mean A) coming up with a bunch of floor bosses that aren't repetitive and B) making something interesting happen so I will probably have time skips to important parts with the occasional boss fight being played out and mentions to other ones. Sorry if that's a deal breaker for everyone but as fun as it might be it would also be really boring for me to write a bunch of repetitive boss fights and boring for you guys to read said boss fights.

So lastly good by and good luck and thanks for the support.


	4. Chapter 4

Kirito, Yuuki and Aiko entered the town of Tolbana for the boss meeting and to see some old friends. Kirito received a message from Klien asking for a meeting so they were heading off to one of the restaurants to have lunch with their old friend. On the way there a man with blue hair, blue armor, and with a shield and sword slung over his back ran up to Kirito.

"Hey, Kirito, it's been awhile. You look pretty much the same as I remember." said the man with a huge smile

"Ahh, ya, sorry who are you?" asked Kirito while looking slightly confused.

'It's me Diavel." replied the man now known as Diavel

A huge grin spread across Kirito's face as he learned that one of his two friends from the beta was still alive.

"So, Kirito, finally formed a party I see. I guess maybe those rumors of a black clad swordsmen training people the first few days of the game were true. I always thought you would solo everything."

"Ya ya. Laugh it up. I'm not solo anymore and Argo doesn't know everything what is the world coming to." said Kirito with a sigh. Suddenly they heard a shout. "Kii-bou!"

"Speak of the devil" said Diavel

Everyone took a step backwards, Diavel because he knew Kirito in the beta and the Konno sisters because after a month of traveling with Kirito they had gotten use to Argo's antics. Kirito for his part was trying to spot his mousy friend in the crowd before he found her though she tackled him to the ground with a huge hug from behind.

"Kii-bou and Dave its great to see you guys." said Argo from atop Kirito.

"Hi Argo it's been too long though I see you still can't remeber our names correctly." said Diavel earning a giggle from Argo while Kirito was trying(And Failing) to get Argo off his chest.

'Can't breath." said Kirito while Yuuki and Aiko looked down at him with a mix of concern, pity, and amusement. Before Argo could get off another person joined the conversation. Klein who on the way to the restaurant saw the Konno sisters and knew that Kirito would not be far from his disciplines.

"Hey guys. Where's Kirito?" said Klein before noticing exactly what Argo was sitting on. A look of admiration crossed Klein's face.

"Kirito you must teach me your art." Said Klein falling to his knees next to the still struggling Kirito while putting his hands together like he was praying, "Not only do you have two beautiful girls following you around wherever you go, but now you have a third one. How do you do it?"

"Not now Klien. Help me. Can't breath." said Kirito still trying to get Argo off him as Diavel, Yuuki, and Aiko sat by and watched laughing at Klein and Argo's antics while exchanging small talk and introducing themselves to each other.

Before Klein could make any move to help a familiar rapier user decided to make an appearance. "Are you ok?" she asked Kirito.

"No." said Kirito who by this point had given up and was just trying to ignore the stares he was attracting from the crowd. Of course at this point Klein was curled in the fetal position complaining about how life was unfair.

"Are you trying to get a harem?" purred Argo breaking away from her conversation with Diavel for a second.

"No" screamed Kirito not noticing how girls faces got a little redder or how Klein grew just a little more depressed.

* * *

After finally getting Argo off him the whole group went to lunch where they meet the rest of Klein's group.

"Hey boss where have you been and why do you look so depressed?" one of them asked as the group arrived.

"It's nothing." Klein sighed

The group spent the next hour eating and catching up. The Rapier user introduced herself as Asuna and join Kirito's party with Yuuki and Aiko. _She seems less depressed than when we first met. Maybe Yuuki and Aiko can help her._ Thought Kirito noticing how Yuuki seemed to be getting along perfectly with Asuna.

"It's great that you guys plan on helping clear the boss." said Kirito to Klein's group

"Thanks to the training you gave us we were able to get strong enough to help. It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of those you helped train the first few days made it." Klein

The advice was top notch." said Dynamm, one of Klein's friends.

"One last thing before you go Kirito." said Diavel in a serious tone that sent shivers down a few spines. "There is resentment growing towards the beta players."

This confused Kirito immensely. "Why?"

Diavel just sighed before continuing "they want someone to blame who they can see and touch. With Kayaba gone they turned their sights to the ex-beta testers and blamed them for the deaths of those who died."

"It's true Kirito." Said Argo using a serious tone and his full name showing just how important this was. "I advise you to not tell people you were in the beta."

"Ok." said Kirito with a nod. Klein stood up and wrapped his arm around Kirito's neck.

"No matter what we have your back man. We a least owe you that much."

"Thanks Klein." said Kirito giving him a heart felt smile.

Then Klein instantly lightened the mood by shaking Kirito back and forth.

" Now some advice for picking up ladies would be nice." said Klein while looking like he was about to cry.

"It was fun Kirito and as the boss said thanks for everything." said Dale, another of Klein's group, as he dragged Klein away.

After they had left Diavel stood up "It was good seeing you again and I hope your at the meeting in an hour but I have to find my group." and with that Diavel left and Argo snuck off when no one was looking. It was about then that Kirito noticed they had left him with the bill.

 _Oh I will get them for this._ Thought Kirito forking up the col and imagining his Wallet crying as he did so.

* * *

The Boss meeting was held in an old amphitheater. It was going pretty well though that can mostly be attested to Diavels amazing leadership abilities. He started out with a joke that didn't make much sense to Kirito but seemed to help lighten the mood. He had to hand it Diavel he sure knew how to get a crowd riled up. Things suddenly took a turn for the worst when a middle-aged man with spiky brown hair jumped into the amphitheater and hijacked the conversation.

"My name is Kibaou and some of you here need to apologise to those who have died!" the man shouted pointing accusingly at the crowd.

"Are talking about the beta testers?" Asked Diavel

"Of course. When things got tough they left us and took all the good hunting spots and easy quests."

 _This can not end well_ thought Kirito

"We should make them get down on their hands and knees beg for forgiveness and hand over their equipment and col. How can we trust them if they won't trust us." said Kibaou

The crowd was in disbelief. "Can I speak?" said a large bald man with dark skin. He was at least six feet tall and built like a bear with a huge double sided axe slung on his back even Kibaou was intimidated.

'Hi, my name is Agil, and if I understand you correctly you blame the beta testers for the everyone's deaths?"

"Umm. Ya that's right." said Kibaou clearly intimidated by the massive figure in front of him.

Agil went through his inventory before pulling out a small brown book with a rat face on the cover.

"Everyone has one of these right? Asked Agil earning nods from the crowd.

"Good because this was put together by the beta testers and is sold free at every store."

A collective gasp came from the crowd except for Kirito who already knew all that except the fat that it was free. _Argo charged me 100 col for that book! That just one more thing to the list of things to get back at her for._ Thought Kirito as Agil continued.

"Everyone had access to the info but some still died. We should learn and move on not blame each other." he said sitting down.

"They still should have helped us noobies instead of running off even with the info they probably still hide the best stuff from us." said Kibaou trying to regain a foothold but he was given no ground as Klein stood up to speak.

"First day my friends and I were trained by a beta tester. So were many others."

Several other stood up to support him.

"Ya I was saved by a beta tester. His training was invaluable"

"That training helped keep me and my party alive."

"I never thought we could win but he gave me hope that I will see my kids again"

Seeing holes shoot through his argument left and right Kibaou made a tactical retreat and sat down so Diavel could continue the meeting. _He still might be trouble_ thought Kirito as the boss meeting carried on.

* * *

The next day Kirito and friends walked toward the back of the group on the way to the dudgeon. Being one of the strongest even with their relative small size Diavel asked them to play rear guard and to keep the bosses guards occupied. Kirito chatted with Klein as the girls brought up Asuna on how a party works and what switching was. They eventually reached the boss room. Diavel gave a little speech and they opened the door. The boss Illfang the Kobold lord stood up from his throne and grabbed his axe and buckler before giving a mighty roar and summing up six Ruin kobold Sentinels, three on each side before charging at the players.

"Squads A and C flank him. Squad B pull aggro. Squad G take out those sentinels while the rest while the rest of you wait your rotation." shouted Diavel over the sound of battle.

"Right!" shouted Kirito. Him and Asuna would take the left side while the Konno sisters would take the right. At first the other teams were skeptical that four people could hold off all the guards, but were amazed at what they saw. Yuuki and Aiko were above average level and skill by quite a bit and moved with grace as the easily carved through the sentinels on their side. While Kirito was would easily overpower the sentinel so that Asuna could go for a kill shot at the neck or other vital point doing massive damage. _Her accuracy is amazing_ thought Kirito finishing off the last Kobold with a single slash that cut through the Kobolds armor as if it wasn't there. After another couple of minutes of fighting Illfang lost his third health bar and then dropped his axe and buckler.

"Looks like the book was actually right." shouted Kibaou

"I got this!" shouted Diavel charging forward

Then Kirito noticed something strange about the weapon. He use to wield a Talwar, but that sword looks bigger. The realization hit Kirito suddenly.

"No Diavel get back. It's no good don't attack!" shouted Kirito

Diavel look over hearing his name called and seeing Kirito with a look a fear plastered on his face. Diavel jumped back and called the tank squad on rotation. "Squad F shields up." They raised them just in time as Illfang shout forward and used the new weapon to use an AOE attack that launched the tank unit backwards and left most of them at half health. Illfang wasn't done though as he jumped into the air aiming for Diavel with a downward slash only to be interrupted by Kirito. The Assault team was in shambles as they just watched a single attack almost destroy a whole team and kill their leader.

"Yuuki. Aiko. Attack his legs" shouted Kirito while giving Diavel a health potion.

"If your going I am coming with you." Said Asuna running up to him. Kirito nodded as he charged with Asuna following close behind. The assault team looked on amazed as Yuuki and Aiko dodged attacks with an unbelievable speed while doing damage and slowing Illfang down as they tore apart his legs. Kirito was able to deflect Illfangs heavy attacks with almost no effort allowing Asuna to hit Illfangs weak points. Suddenly Illfang turned a deep red color and seemd to go berserk. This time when Kirito went to parry the blow the force drove him to the ground.

"Kirito" shouted several individuals as his health slowly depleted as he struggled under the weight.

"We can't let a few kids show us up." shouted Agil rallying the rest of the assault team to attack Illfang. Asuna handed Kirito a health potion before he rejoined the combat. The tanks could barely stand a single hit from Illfang before having to retreat while their health was dangerously close to zero.

"Yuuki. Aiko. With me" shouted Kirito as he charged.

Kirito defected Illfang's sword using **Uppercut** this time instead of doing it without a skill. Yuuki and Aiko took this opening to leap up and deliver punishing sword skills to his face. With just a sliver of health left Illfang did another AOE sword skill throwing all the attacks back just like before. Then he jumped up to the ceiling before ricocheting between pillars look some kind of evil red pinball. He suddenly came flying at Yuuki who was still stunned from the heavy AOE attack from earlier. Kirito launched himself forwards using **Vertical Arc** to cut apart Illfang and killing him before he could reach his friend.

* * *

Kirito sat there on the floor as the room broke out in cheers as the congratulations sign appeared showing that they had won. Yuuki and Aiko ran over to him and tackle hugged him. Thanking him while he just patted Yuuki's head chuckling softly. "Agil and Klein came over to him.

"Good job buddy." said Klein

"Our victory was because of you." said Agil with a smile

"No we…" said Kirito but before he could continue a familiar voice shouted above the crowd.

"Why didn't you tell us about the weapon change! Diavel and many other could have died." shouted Kibaou.

"I know! He was a beta tester." said another

"See they were withholding info from us. Look at his sword." said yet another

The crowd noticed his sword as it glowed with a purple light.

"I bet there's more betas here. Show your selves." said Kibaou to the crowd

Suddenly the cheer was gone. People were looking back and forth worriedly. _Not good this could destroy the unity we have right now. Maybe if they had a single target for their hate. That's it._ But before Kirito could put his plan in motion another voice spoke up.

"Your right Kibaou." It was Diavel, " I am a beta tester." he said reaching Kirito and turning to speak to the crowd.

"What?" said Kibaou stunned with the turn of events.

"Lots of stuff as changed from the beta." said Diavel, "it's my fought for not taking that into account when planning this fight."

"How many did Kirito save today from Illfangs attacks." said Asuna glaring at Kibaou

"Ya and he even got the final hit on the boss and killed it." said Aiko

"Exactly if he had warned us we might have gotten it but he wanted the last hit bonus. He's a greedy beta tester and just look at his fancy sword" said Kibaou trying to capitalize on Aiko's comment and regain some support.

"Good job children now are we done pointing fingers or if you don't remember Kirito warned Diavel and in so doing saved his life" said Agil

"He did and if anyone is greedy it was me for trying to get the final hit." said Diavel

The crowd didn't look so sure but Kibaou noticed he was losing and then Klein spoke up.

"Kirito was the beta tester that trained people the first day."

Noticing what was happening Kirito decide to stand up and take an active role. He gently pushed Yuuki off of him.

'This is not a time to separate! We must give the hopeless hope and continue the push to the one hundredth floor. The Ruby King and Kayaba wait for us. All those who wish to help I will train you best I can if you will help me clear Aincrad." said Kirito

The crowd seemed hesitant though to follow him.

"Me and my friends have you back Kirito " said Klein earning nods from his friends behind him

"You saved my life Kirito and you're a good friend. You have my support." said Diavel

"I will follow you too." said Agil

"We will of course come to sensei" said Aiko

"ya you can count on us." said Yuuki

"You have given me hope Kirito and I will fight by your side." said Asuna earning her a smile from Kirito.

One by one nearly two-third of the assault team promised to join with Kirito.

Kibaou realizing he had lost took his supporters and made to leave. "You will regret putting your faith in a beta tester!" and with that he was off. The rest followed Kirito up the stairs and to the second floor.

"Hey Yuuki" said Kirito "I have a present for you."

He handed a black cloak to Yuuki.

"Is this the last attack bonus? Cloak of Midnight. Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am Yuuki. I hope it serves you well. Said Kirito leaving out the fact that his black cloak was way better in terms of stats as he didn't want to lose his new found allies by proving at least some of what Kibaou said right.

* * *

Thanks again for all the support and I noticed Orca3553 made a good point that Kirito should probably be higher lvl so I changed his level in earlier chapters.

As always follow, favorite and review if your into that stuff. Or don't but at least enjoy the story. As a heads up I leave for collage in about a week so I have no idea what that will do for my ability to put out updates so i will try and get as much as I can out before I leave then when I get settled in see if I can pick the story back up but I don't plan on abandoning it just thought I should let you guys know. Bye.


	5. Chapter 5

Kirito's group reached the town of Urbus and as Yuuki and Aiko activated the teleport gate Kirito turned to the group that had decided to follow him.

"You all did good today and our victory today is as much yours as mine." He said earning cheers and whistles from the crowd.

"I want you all to meet up at noon tomorrow in town square to start training. Till then your time is yours to use how you want."

With that the group started to fragment with a large portion following Klein and co. towards the nearest tavern for a party. As Kirito started to head to the Inn with the Konno sisters heard the Teleport gate fire up and out shoot Argo being chased by two unknown figures.

"It look's like she could use some help." said Yuuki

"Your right. Let's go guys." replied Kirito while sprinting after the retreating figures activating his tracking skill on the go reveling green footprints.

Kirito decided to jump onto one of the houses and go roof to roof in an effort to catch up faster. Eventually it seemed that they cornered Argo in an alleyway and were trying to extract information out of her.

"..won't sell the information!" said Argo her voice sounding a little strained

"We will pay any price. Don't you want the money?" said a gruff slightly muffled voice

"It's not about the money!" Argo snapped, "I don't want to be blamed for the consequences."

"No matter what we will be grateful now give us the information." said a second less gruff but equally muffled voice.

Kirito seeing things getting out of hand he jumped and landed between Argo and her two assailants followed shortly by the Konno sisters.

"I would advise you leave before we make you." he said in a calm voice readying his weapon.

Kirito got a better look as the enemies readied their knives. The two figures were dressed head to toe in dark grey cloths with a bandanas covering their face so only their eyes were shown. They had chainmail on over their cloths and were armed with several knives and throwing picks. The realization hit Kirito.

"You guys were that clan of assassins during the beta! What were you called again? Fogi?"

"NO! We are the Fuma clan and were ninjas!" said the first Fuma clan member

Kirito remembered them because as they were great scouts and could usually sneak in scout a boss and retreat they had a tendency to come zipping by followed by a hoard of monsters drop them off on whatever party was unfortunate to be in the area and leave them to their fate. They did however help kill a few bosses with their info and sneak attacks, but still if they couldn't kill a group of monster dropping it off on another group so they could escape just annoyed Kirito.

"Leave now." said Yuuki

"Or we'll make you." followed up Aiko as they both readied their swords.

"We are masters at close combat! You don't stand a chance." said the second figure.

Kirito just sighed. They were in a town so the magic effects of the safe zone would stop any injuries but they could still knock each other around and it would definitely hurt.

"If I may ask what is happening here." said a giant man from behind the two Ninjas

"Agil" shouted Yuuki "and Asuna" noticing a small figure next to the giant man both with weapons in hand.

The Two Ninjas clearly intimated by the big axe wielder. Took a step back and closer to Kirito.

"We will get you for this. The Fuma clan will have its revenge!" shouted one of the Fuma clansmen before they leaped up and climbed onto the roof of the nearby buildings before taking off back toward the teleport gate.

"Kii-bou you were so cool!" shouted Argo while tackling Kirito who by now knew it was coming so was at least able to keep his footing as the small girl dug her face into his back.

"It might break my first rule but I will give you one piece of info for free Kii-bou"

Kirito had to think for a second. This was great chance! Anything! There had always been one question he wanted answered but the cost was always too high.

'What is the reason behind the whiskers?"

Everyone turned to the information dealer at this. _I guess I wasn't the only one who wondered that_ thought Kirito as the group stared at Argo.

Argo just smiled, "Follow me on an adventure Kii-bou."

* * *

After an hour of walking the group reached a cave at the bottom of a mountain.

"Here it is." said Argo

"No what?" asked Kirito sporting a confused expression as he reached the cave mouth.

"We take a trip to wonderland." replied Argo which just helped to further confuse Kirito before she gave him a gentle push and he fell into the cave which turned out to be a slope heading down into the deep inky darkness below. The group heard Kirito let out a terrified scream as he disappeared followed shortly by a laughing Argo as she jumped in after him. The Konno sisters shared a look before both smiling and following their friend and mentor. Asuna looked unsure but Agil helped her decide with a laugh he pushed her in just like Argo did to Kirito before he too followed the group down the slide.

After a couple of minutes of sliding Kirito finally reached the bottom and took a look around at a field full of giant rocks. Before he could move though out of the tube came a laughing Argo who fell down on him knocking him to the ground. They both picked themselves up and started to dust himself off before the konno sisters landed on top of them and suddenly they were in a pile again with Argo and Kirito at the bottom. The entire group broke out in laughter as Asuna landed on top still screaming in terror with her eyes screwed shut. Suddenly a realization hit Argo and she stop laughing.

"If Asuna just landed then isn't Agil last in line?" The group suddenly stopped laughing and tried to get off before the big man reached the bottom and inevitably fall on top of them. Only Asuna got away using her speed to its fullest before Agil was added to the pile still laughing from the ride.

* * *

The group eventually collect themselves and followed Argo to an old man napping on top of one of the rocks in the middle of the field.

"So you're here to learn from an old man?" asked the old man as they neared him.

Kirito just looked at Argo who gave him a reassuring nod. "Yes"

"Good. It's been awhile since anyone has come to my field." said the old man. A screen labeled Martial Arts training appeared in front of everyone and all but Argo hit the accept button. What happen next surprised everyone except of course Argo who just wore an impish grin. The old man dashed forward at speeds no one thought he had and drew whiskers on each person's face with a small brush.

"Now my disciplines you must destroy a rock without your weapons. Hands, feet, even your head can all be used, but until you complete this you can remove those marks." said the old man laying back down on his rock started drinking a cup of tea that seemed to appear out of nowhere chuckling softly to himself.

Kirito sighed and rubbed his head as if he had a headache. He turned to the laughing Argo "So this was the reason you had those marks and why you didn;t want to be blamed." earning a nod from Argo he walked over to one of the rocks and jumped up on it and with a mighty grunt hit the rock with his fist shattering it in a single hit. The Old man didn't seem fazed at all.

"As I expected from a child of fire. You meet my expectations but don't surpass them. I will teach you what I know."

The group look shocked. "I know your level carried over but still wow. And what's this Child of Fire business." said Argo

 _Oh no. I didn't expect the old man to know._ Thought Kirito. Before he could come up with a convincing excuse the old man spoke up.

"I will now teach you follow me over this way" He said while walking away "the rest of you can join us once you have destroyed a rock just like this young one."

Once they had distanced themselves from the group the old man turned to him.

"Why do you keep it secret child of fire? They are clearly friends of yours, why not tell them?"

Kirito looked down at the ground before replying "I don't know what they might do. I want to earn their trust before revealing it to them. If I do it know they still might try and kill me like the others I met in my original form."

The old man kneeled down in front of Kirito and like talking to a small child he said in a soothing voice "I believe they already trust you. You must find it in yourself to trust them, but I leave it up to you. Just know that one day you will have to tell them and the longer you wait the harder it will hit them. Be open my student and your trust will be reflect back on you. No let's start training."

"Ya. and thanks for everything master." said Kirito with a smile.

After about an hour Agil joined them as his impressive strength allowed him to smash the rock after about an hour. That night Kirito, Argo, and Agil decided to head back so they could help train the new recruits in the morning. Yuuk, Aiko, and Asuna decided to stay behind and complete the training. Argo having seemed to forget about what the old man said earlier in the excitement of the whole thing and spent most her time teasing the others about their new whiskers or being chased around by a clearly pissed off Asuna who wasn't to happy with the little prank.

* * *

Around noon the next day Kirito, Diavel, Agil, Argo, Klein and Klein's group stood in front of a crowd of about fifty or so people. Some who probably weren't even in the boss raid but decided to join anyways.

"We will be training today so we can fight the next boss. Klein and me will be wandering around giving advice and showing how to perfect your sword skills and sword style. Axe wielders will be getting help from Agil and those who use spears and other pole arms will be getting help from Dale. Those who are using maces Dynamm and I will be around to help you. If you are wondering what you should be doing take orders from your appointed leader of if they aren't around Diavel or me. If you wish to be a scout Argo has volunteered to help train you in the skills you need like tracking, searching, and hiding. Now group up with people of the same weapon."

Over the next couple of days the groups leveled at a fast rate learning how to use their weapons and eventually how to have work as a team then a larger raid group. Having finished their training and losing the whiskers the Konno sisters and Asuna rejoined. Diavel seemed to learn from his mistakes and played more cautiously when commanding while both him and Asuna, who possessed a surprisingly analytical mind, became very competent commanders. This suited Kirito just fine as he wasn't really good at leading large groups in combat and wasn't a big fan of the attention. He preferred to be in the fight as much as possible. Diavel could maneuver whole groups and rotate them when need expertly. This was best demonstrated when the group fought a field boss named Bulbous Bow and under Diavels leadership took zero casualties. Asuna could command a small team like a scalpel. Her team would usually be left with just basic directions and then complete tasks in a shorter time than most other group could. Kirito had a tendency to join her as she was one of the few that could keep up with him in combat this caused her group to be referred to by the other other members of Kirito's army(as people started to call it)as the honor guard because it was made up of some of the best fighters they had. Agil mastered the art of of the axe and his combat style focus mostly on pure strength. Kirito watched armored enemies cleave in half from head to toe or one swing of Agil's massive axe take down several enemies at once. To add to his impressive axe skills Agil had an amazing business sense so Kirito's forces were able to acquire very good equipment while also simultaneously building strong relations with the leading traders. The Konno sister could speed in and destroy entire groups by themselves most of the fighters linked their style to that of dancers. Their grace and speed a sight to behold and would cause most onlookers to gap open mouth as they dodged attacks and stroke weak points just like Kirito had taught them. Many tried to copy the no shield one-handed sword style, but had to eventually switch to using a shield as they couldn't keep up with Kirito, Yuuki, and Aiko and realized it was more of a hindrance than just using a shield. Argo's scouts were some of the best around having be taught by the person widely considered the best at sneaking and finding that which is hidden. Being the best info broker meant the groups all had access to the best grind spots on the floor. Klein and friends after having taught what they could started to work on their own teamwork. Everyone of them was considered some of the best fighters Kirito's army could offer and their teamwork was by far the best. Overall Kirito was proud of the group and with Klein's group helping everyone was taught to the best he thought they could achieve and now most of his men were overleveled for this floor. The day before the scout returned saying they had found the Boss room. Two weeks had past since the first floor boss and now it was time to defeat the next one and knock off another floor as they continued to climb to the top of Aincrad.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the story. I might have spent a little too long explaining how Kirito's force was doing, but I wanted all the characters to get some time so it wasn't just Kirito getting all the love. He's good but he has very good help and I always kind of thought Agil, Klein, and the others didn't get enough attention in canon.

I should really find a name for Kirito's group so when they make a guild it's not Kirito's army because that sounds a little silly to me. Either way I started to lay the seeds for the group to learn what Kirito is and more will be coming soon. I kind of wanted to make the next boss fight it's own chapter because of how big it is and how much time I spent just on the who martial arts training so I will probably write that and post it within the next couple of day unless something comes up. I also plan on making this a AsunaxKirito ff so sorry for anyone who thought differently its just slow going on that because I am not exactly sure who to approach that without making it seemed force(this being my second try at a fanfic).

As always hope you enjoyed the story and reviews are great and if you have any questions I will try and answer what I can.


	6. Chapter 6

Kirito lead his raid team through the labyrinth to the location the scouts said the boss room was. If nothing had changed the boss should be Baran the General Taurus and the scouts said he was teamed with Nato the Colonel Taurus. So with two boss the forty-nine member raid group would spit in two. A raid group had seven teams of seven so they had decided that there would be two tank teams, two damage teams, and then two teams of mace users and scouts that would hit the bosses with bleed and stun effects to help the others out.

Kirito's team was the odd man out. It consisted of him, Yuuki, Aiko, Diavel, Agil, Argo, and Aceso. The team planned of fragmenting with Kirito, Yuuki, and Aiko joining Asuna and her attack on Baran while Agil, Argo, and Diavel would lead the troops attacking Nato. Aceso was one of of Argo's best scouts and she was loaded with health potions and even a few crystals so she could use her speed and hiding skills to help heal those whose health was getting low so she would be on the edges of the fight looking for those who were critically wounded.

As far as they knew there wasn't any mobs, but the bosses stunning abilities would be difficult to deal with. Kirito sent Klein's group off to complete some quests so they wouldn't be participating in this fight but he was sure they could do it without them.

When they finally reached the boss room Diavel gave a small speech before Kirito opened the door and in the room was two bosses just like the scouts said. Baran was a giant Red minotaur type monster wielding a two-handed warhammer. Nato was smaller and blue but no less intimidating. Both huge monsters were a terror to behold towering over the human swordsmen and would cause lesser men to run, but Kirito's men didn't even blink. The group split and went for their targets without a second thought prepared for the tough battle ahead.

* * *

Asuna lead the charge on Baran with Kirito close behind her. Asuna landed the first hit with a simple charge type sword skill called **Shooting Star**. The second after Kirito followed up with **Serration Wave** stunning Baran allowing the rest of the group to get to the fight.

"Tanks prepare for his counter attack!" Shouted Asuna seeing Baran raising his two-handed warhammer for a horizontal swing. The tank group raised their shields right before the strike troke home pushing the tank members back, but doing minimal damage. It did however momentarily stun them. Yuuki and Aiko used the tanks to vault up into Baran while the rest of the damage dealers went for his legs. Baran was just so massive that Yuuki and Aiko were only able to reach his chest before they unleashed their sword skills. Kirito and Asuna worked as a team attacking the bosses joints while Asuna shouted orders to her men. Under the savage onslaught Baran's health depleted quickly until the first of his three health bars was only half full. Baran let out a huge roar before slamming his hammer down on a tank all but crushing the poor soul. His teammates covered him so he could heal, but still it displayed a staggering amount of damage for a single attack.

"Mace users stun him now and non-tanks be careful of his hammer it hits like a truck" Shout Asuna earning a few chuckles and a confused Kirito. Baran stumbled backwards as the mace sword skills stunned him.

"Everyone attack now!"

They were now well into Baran's second health bar. With a growl Baran raised his hammer.

"Prepare for an attack.!" shouted Asuna causing the Damagers to run back as the tanks moved forward ready for the attack.

* * *

 _This is going well_ thought Kirito while peeking over at the other fight to see how it was going. Diavel was shouting orders as Agil delivered a powerful strike to Nato's left arm causing massive damage while Argo had somehow gotten on top of Nato and was busy clawing out his eyes wearing a gleeful smile the whole time. _It's going a little better for them_ thought Kirito with a slight huff turning back to his fight to deflect a hammer swing and create an opening for Asuna to strike with several devastating **Linear** hits.

Baran health was just on the edge of his second bar when he raise his hammer for a downwards strike. The sound of glass shattering reached Kirito's ears. Had someone died! From behind him he heard cheers. Diavels team had killed Nato and were heading his way to help finish Baran. _We can do this_ thought Kirito as Barans lost his second health bar. Suddenly the room started to shake. Baran let out a huge roar as his skin started to change to a sickly purple color and his eyes took a more murderous shine.

"He is entering a berserk state." shouted Asuna

"That's not our only problem" Shouted Argo as she reached Kirito.

In the center of the room a hole appeared and the sound of gears grinding could be heard.

"Don't slow down. We must kill Baran before whatever is coming gets here." shouted Asuna spurring her men to continue the assault even as Baran started using **numbing blast** every chance he got laying in stunned and paralyzation to many fighters. As Baran's final health bar hit 25% they could finally see what was coming from the hole. A massive monster that made even Baran and Nato look small. It wore chainmail around waist, but left its chest bear. A giant silver crown sat atop its head and it wielded no weapons. Its roar shook the chamber. Above it's head the name Asterius the Taurus King appeared followed by three more health bars.

It was a testament to their training that no one openly panicked.

"Keep fighting Baran Asuna. We will take Asterius. Join when you can." shouted Diavel while altering his group's course. "Kirito we could use your help!"

Earning a nod from Asuna. He ran off toward Asterius.

'Yuuki. Aiko. With me!" he shouted

"Right" was the reply he received acknowledging the order and following him into battle.

Asterius took a giant breath and his chest inflated like a barrel.

"Breath attack watch out!" shouted Kirito a little too late. Asterius open his mouth and a yellow blast of lightning shoot out striking the tank instantly paralysing everyone.

 _We might have a problem_ thought Kirito while charging into Asterius tree trunk thick legs.

After killing Baran and taking a little rest Asuna lead her men to join the attack but still they had barely hurt Asterius. The fact that Asterius seem to hand out paralyzation like it was candy didn't help. It surprised Kirito that they hadn't had any casualties yet. There had been a couple of close calls though but Aceso did an amazing job as medic healing those who need it or if they were too badly injured dragging them out of the combat. They could only ever seem to get about half the raid to attack him at once because the rest were paralyzed or healing. One thought struck Kirito. Where was Argo?

* * *

Argo for her part had snuck up behind the boss and had climbed it's legs. She had just reached Asterius head when his first health bar was depleted. Asterius started sucking in air for another breath attack.

"Everyone scatter." shouted Diavel.

 _What are we going to do?_ Thought Kirito in a panic. If this stayed they way they were they would definitely take casualties and soon. Then a yellow light caught his eyes.

 _So that's where Argo got to_ thought Kirito as Argo used **Cat's Claws** on Asterius head hitting both of his horns doing massive damage and canceling the breath attack. With a smile Kirito charged into the boss again with Yuuki and Aiko who just recovered from their paralyzation.

* * *

Several minutes later they had finally taken down Asterius second health bar. Asterius let out a murderous growl promising death as his skin burned to a coal black color and his attacks speed up. His first target was Argo still perched on his head his left hand sent her flying, but fortunately right to Diavel who was ready to catch her. Their happiness was short lived as Asterius right hand came in and swept them off their feet and sent both knight and scout flying into the nearest pillar putting both in the red zone. Agil charged forward just as Asterius stucked in air for another Breath attack.

"These attacks are getting pretty old real quick." shouted Asuna running past Kirito.

This time though it was different. The previous breath attacks had been a line of lightning this was more of a cone. The group had tried to scatter to avoid it but not far enough. Kirito seeing it coming and pushed Asuna who was on the edge of the cone out of the way. He then looked around. The entire group was laying on the floor having lost all ability to move the only ones not paralyzed were Asuna, because he had pushed her, Agil who was right under the boss so the attack had missed, and him for well being a dragon and therefore immune to paralyzing effects up till now he had been luck enough to dodge the one that would paralyze him. _I hope nobody saw that. I still not ready to tell them just yet._ Thought Kirito pulling himself up.

'Kirito are you ok." said Asuna worry clear in her eyes.

"Yes, now we must keep the boss busy with Agil ."

Asuna nodded as she went running toward Agil and the boss.

"I need a lift Agil!" shouted Asuna. Realizing what she had in mind he just smiled

"This is so cliche" was all he said as he launched Asuna up and into Asterius face. His massive strength helping her get up to strike were her attacks would do the most damage. Asterius sported a look of confusion as a small chestnut haired girl with a tiny toothpick of a sword appeared in his face. Confusion morphed to rage as Asuna landed dozens of **Linear** strikes into his eyes before finishing with a martial arts skill **Crescent Moon**. Asterius stumbled back under the attack and his health bar depletes itself to about 50%.

The rest of the raid pulled themselves up and attack Asterius while he was stunned from Asuna's ferocity. Kirito caught Asuna before she hit the ground and took the fall damage.

She was panting from the exhalation. "I did good?" she asked looking at Kirito

"You did good Asuna." He said with a smile as the raid group finished off Asterius with no casualties. Aiko got the final hit earning herself a new sword.

* * *

The group sat around the now empty boss room and rested from the long encounter before heading off. Kirito was sitting off to one side thinking when suddenly a voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Hi Kii-bou" It was Argo.

"Hi Argo what can I do for you?" asked Kirito

"Well the funniest thing happened during the boss fight. The entire group was hit by that breath attack and paralyzed except you. Care to explain" asked Argo with a huge grin.

Kirito just sighed, "I should have known that you of all people would have noticed that."

"Does this have anything to do what what the old man called you. Child of Fire was it? Asked Argo adopting a more serious look. Kirito curled up and wrapped his arms around his legs.

Noticing this Argo sighed and looked away. "Whatever it is you're hiding Kirito we can handle it. We are friends after all, but if you want to keep it secret then that's your choice. Yuuki and Aiko both look up to you and you saved Diavels life. I'm sure Klein, Agil, and the rest of us can handle it you just have to trust us." with another sigh Argo started to walk away.

'I'll give you time to think it over and best of luck with Asuna." said Argo giving him a smile

"What's that suppose to mean?" said a very confused Kirito.

Argo stopped. Looked at Kirito. Then just laughed.

"You'll see I guess. Oh, and on the next floor after we make our guild we should do that elf quest you missed in the beta."

 _Not Elves._ Thought Kirito, _Dragons and elves never got along. One too many hunting parties and a couple burned villages._ It was one of the many reasons Kirito didn't want to show people his true form. For as long as he remembered peoples usually approach to dragons was to form a hunting party and kill it. Kirito himself lived through a wood elf hunting party attack.

 _At least their not dwarves._ Thought Kirito, _and if it's a dark elf they probably wouldn't kill him on sight. Probably._

Seeing the happy pair of Konno sisters proudly showing off Aiko's new sword to some very exhausted raid members Kirito couldn't help but think back to Argo and the old man's words. He would have to tell them soon. He should at least let his close friends know even if they still hide it from the rest of the soon to be guild.

* * *

Here is that chapter I promised. I hope you enjoyed it. The problem I am trying to have for Kirito is that Dragons have a history of being hunted and it's not entirely their fault. Ya they're giant carnivorous monsters but still they aren't the evil monster they are made out to be. Kirito cares about his friends, but at the same time doesn't want to lose them when they learn he is not only not one of them but a giant fire breathing monster most of them hunt for valuable loot, armor, fame, and fortune. So he is hesitant to tell them. I also realized that many of you thought Yui would be the one to break the secret of Kirito's identity while this may be the case I thought that might take awhile so I decided to let Argo collect some information early. Also I am starting to think that with all the build up no matter what I do when they do learn the secret it will probably be a let down in some way to people, but what you gonna do I guess.

On a side note anyone know what the 25th boss is. I can't seem to find anything on it other than the fact that the army fought it, got their butts handed to them, and retreated to the lower levels. It would be nice to know what it is or I guess I could just make something up. We'll see I guess.

As always please review and tell what you guys think. Criticism is always welcome and I could never hurt to improve ones writing ability(or so my English teachers tell me). Thanks for all those who helped me so far with ideas and support.

Shadowace2400 to answer your question(At least I think it was a question) I was trying to make Kirito and family AI's that obtained a level of independence and free thought.

Sapphirestream thanks for the advice and I will keep it in mind when writing new chapters. Also any similarity to Tsukikage and Hikage was and accident. I was never that into yugioh. Sorry.


	7. Chapter 7

Kirito and crew finally reached Zumfut, the capital city of the third floor. The third floor was just one massive unending forest. Everyone was pretty exhausted from the boss fight and then the hour trek through the woods.

"Everyone we will meet up tomorrow to form guild. Until then rest and relax you guys deserve it." said Kirito

As the group started to fragment Argo, Agil, Asuna, Diavel, and the Konno sisters came over to Kirito.

"So now we should go start the elf war quest." said Argo.

Kirito sighed. "Ok Argo let's go before I collapse from exhaustion."

The group head into the forest following both Argo and Diavel. The eventually came to a clearing where two elfs were fighting back and forth. The Dark elf had long light purple and wore armor that matched her hair in color. _At least one is a dark elf_ thought Kirito. _The other must be the wood elf._ The wood elf wore primarily green armor and clothes. He had white skin and blond hair.

"So heres the plan." said Argo addressing the group, "We can only choose one and we should focus on defence."

Kirito wasn't really paying attention. _If I help the dark elf that increase the chance she won't just kill me afterwards._

"Hey Kirito." snapping out of his thoughts Kirito turned to see Diavel trying to get his attention.

"Yes?"

"Which one do you think we should help?" asked Agil

"How about the dark elf." Kirito replied trying to sound firm

This was followed by silence. Argo was the first to speak up.

"Is that because the dark elf is a girl?"

Kirito was momentarily at a lost for words. "No!"

"Either way we should help. Remember to focus on defense." said Diavel just a little too late Kirito was already moving.

With superhuman speed he shoot out of the forest and directly at the wood elf. The wood elf didn't even realize what had happen before Kirito removed his head from his body. Kirito turned back to look at the group. Diavel and Argo were both frozen in shock. The rest just wondered over to Kirito.

'Wow that was a lot easier than expected." said Agil

'Ya the way those two were hyping it up I thought it would be a difficult fight." said Yuuki nodding her head in agreement.

Finally getting over his shock Dival ran over to Kirito. 'No one ever killed on of those two. They always both died as part of the quest."

"Amazing Kii-bou. Just simply amazing."

"So if this is new turn of events what do we do now." asked Asuna.

The group turned to look at the Dark elf who still had her sword drawn.

"Why did you guys help me?" asked the dark elf glaring suspiciously at Kirito.

"My name is Asuna we saw you were in trouble and decided to help."

The elf sheathed her sword. Before pulling out a small medallion.

"My name is Kizmel. If you have some free time stop by my village and I am sure they will properly reward you." After tossing the medallion to Asuna and sending one last glare to Kirito before she left disappearing into the shadows of the forest.

Kirito let out a deep breath. _That was a close one. Last thing I need is the elf army trying to hunt me down. Hopefully she won't go and report this._

 _"_ Did it seem like the elf didn't really like Kirito" asked Asuna

"Well Kii-bou did just kill someone in an event where no other group has been able to do and did it in one hit!" said Argo

"Well that was fun" said Diavel "but let's head back to town and rest now. We have a big day tomorrow."

* * *

The next day Kirito meet up with the rest of his fighting force and head to the guild registration center. The guild registration center looked like a large tree with a windows and doors cut into the side. Outside there was a man nailing a closed sign onto the front door.

"Maybe there is some quest we must do first." Said Agil as the got closer.

"Hello." said Kirito causing the man to turn around. "Why is the guild hall closed."

"Some crazy wizard showed up stole the deed and my keys! Apparently someone stole his sword and all his money so now he is demanding a ransom or I can't continue to run the guild hall."Replied the man Angrily.

Kirito had a slight feeling of dread. "Do you know where this wizard is?"

The man nodded. "He lives in the bandit camp not far from here."

Kirito went back to his group with the bad news.

"So the guild won't open till we reclaim the deed and keys."

"Even though this is new I have been to the bandit camp before so I should be able to lead us there." said Argo taking lead of the group.

The bandit camp was massive. The camp was built into the side of a was at least three dozen guards wandering around. To bad Kirito brought his entire force. They matched the bandits almost person to person.

'There use to be about 80 or 90 bandits around the camp. Everyone break into groups and help clear them out. Klein you and your group will be with me today." said Kirito

"What's the plan." asked Klein as they made their way to the camp's gate.

"We are going to find that wizard." said Kirito with a smile that sent a chill down Klein's spine

Kirito's group walked through the camp ignoring the clearly outclassed bandits who were getting massacre around them. The eventually reached the bottom of the mountain where the bandit captains house should be. Klein opened the door and a man almost as large as Agil came barreling out and rammed into launching him back. He was armed with a single longsword and he looked very angry. Above was written Attila the Bandit lord.

"You think you can just come here and kill my men then murder me! I am the best fighter here!" shouted Attila as two health bars appeared next to him.

"We just want the wizard that's living here. Said Kirito as Klein and friends prepared for a fight.

"Ha I should have guesses as much. That silly wizard isn't worth the extra money he brings in but I won't let you get away with what you've done here kid." responds Attila pointing his sword at Kirito.

Klein was the first to charge. He used **Reaver** to try and remove Attila's head but instead was met with Attila's sword. "You think such a weak attack could hit me."

He kicked Klein back before charging Kirito. Dale stepped forward and shoved his spear into Attila as he charged. The bandits health dropped by 50%. Attila responded with a slash of his own using **Horizontal** to deal considerable damage to Dale but leaving himself open to a mace attack from Dynamm dropping his first sheath bar to about 35%. Before Atila could recover from the stunning effect Kirito charged forward and land his own punishing hit on Attila's chest. With that his first health bar fully depleted. He gave a rage filled shout before drawing a second sword. "I am going to make you regret that one kid." Attila charged Kirito but was intercepted by AGil who can charging around the corner followed by Yuuki and Aiko. Attila and Agil locked weapons as Attila caught Agils axe between his two swords.

"Ugh you're strong big man!" said Attila just barely holding Agil back. Unfortunately for him he was unable to defend his back as Yuuki stabbed her sword into his leg causing it to buck and give way as Agil's axe cut into the now weakened boss. The fight didn't take much longer after that.

"How's the battle going Agil." asked Kirito catching his breath.

"It's going great. Better levels and training apparently pay off." replied Agil

"Ok let's go deft this wizard." said Klein after he finished a health potion.

The group entered the cave and inside found a man in colorful robes with a staff standing next to a stone throne.

"I am Melvin the magnificent master of the Arcane arts! Now adventures you will be destroyed!" he shouted raising his staff into the air.

 _Not this guy again_ thought Kirito with a sigh.

"Hello again Melvin." said Kirito stepping forward and readying the sword he stole from Melvin on floor one.

A look of recognition crossed Melvin's face before he stumbled backwards and fell into his chair.

"Swordsmen! What are you doing here!?" shouted Melvin as Kirito started to walk toward him ignoring the confused looks his friends were giving him.

Melvin cleared his throat before counting.' As I was saying you brave adventures have passed the test."

'Test?"asked a very confused Yuuki

By this point Kirito had reached Melvin. "You must want the key and deed huh." said Melvin

Kirito just nodded as Melvin handed them over.

"Anything else?"asked Melvin already resigned to his fate and guessing what question would be next.

"How much col do you have." asked Kirito with a smile.

* * *

As the group walked back to the Guild hall. Yuuki ran over to Kirito.  
"Didn't that seem a little mean? You took his sword and money and now you took his stuff again. It's almost like you're bulling him."

"I guess, but he was evil and ran a bandit camp." replied Kirito to yuuki's questions trying to gain some support.

"It still was kind of mean Kirito." said Asuna joining the conversation.

"I guess but I let him live."

"Hey, Kii-bou we should go find that elf village to get our reward." said Argo

"OK, but after we register as a guild."

* * *

Later that day Yuuki, Asuna, Argo, Diavel, Aiko, Agil, and Kirito were traveling through the forest following Argo.

"It should be near here." said Argo looking at a map she was carrying.

"Are you sure?" asked Diavel "we have been wondering around for awhile now."

"I'm sure Argo knows where we are going." said Yuuki. "Right?"

"Of course! Have I ever lied." said Argo

"No but you have charged use money and then not told us the whole truth." replied Aiko

"But I never Lied." said Argo

The group heard the sounds of people talking and metal hitting metal.

"Sounds like a fight." said Asuna taking off in that direction with the group not far behind.

When they were close enough they finally saw what was going on. Kizmel, the elf they met yesterday stood surrounded by half a dozen men in black cloaks. Each man had a red crystal above their head and the man who appeared to be the leader wore a skull mask over his face.

"Red players!" Whispered Argo concern evident in her voice

"I will not forgive you for killing my people." shouted Kizmel

The red players just laughed. "Aww is the NPC unhappy we killed people." said skull mask.

"We should help and try to capture these people." said Agil

"They have already killed people" said yuuki with fear evident in her voice.

Kirito just stepped into the open. "Put down your weapons and surrender." he declared loudly.

The red players turned to look at him.

"So another man stands ready to die. " said skull mask.

"How are you going to get us to surrender. There is only one of you." said another red player.

Kirito just smiled as his friends stepped out of the forest to stand by his side. Kizmel limped over to them.

Skull masked pulled out a rapier like weapon. "Whether you're a king or a lonely street sweeper sooner or later you dance with the reaper." was all he said as he charged Kirito. Followed by his men. He exchanged several blows with Kirito before jumping back.

"You're weak just like everyone else. You don't have the courage to serious damage a player. Now Die!" said skullmask before using **Flash penetrator** to charge at Kirito. That was just what Kirito was waiting for. He easily dodged the charge based sword skill before swinging his sword down removing skull masks hand and the weapon with it.

Giving an angry shout skull mask charged again armed only with a knife he pulled out from under his cloak. Just like before Kirito side step and swung his sword taking of both skull masks legs this time sending him into the red and incapacitating him.

"Bastard! I am XaXa of the red-eyes and I will kill you. Shouted skullmask.

Kirito just ignore his cursing and took a look around. His friends were dealing with their opponents pretty much the same way. The Konno sister charged one opponent and both took a leg and arm each. Agil used his axe to break his opponent's weapon before using **stunning fist** to knock his opponent out. Asuna was sitting down panting next to a armless body that firing off quite a lot of curses at her but she wasn't paying it much mind. Diavel blocked a hammer swing before responding with his sword and destroying the weapon. His opponent surrendered after that. Argo stood laughing over an opponent she had paralyzed.

Agil and Agro suddenly collapsed with a dagger sticking out from their backs.

"Paralyzation" shouted Argo

"Johnny!" shouted XaXa from his place on the ground. Out of the forest came another half dozen people including one with a belt full of daggers.

"XaXa you sure got beat bad. The boss isn't going to like this." said the man known a johnny.

Turning to address Kirito he said "So you must be the Black swordsmen. I as much as I would love to stay we would surely lose even with two of your members down. So we will take our leave." The cloaked men each grabbed a down teammate and before anyone could respond pulled out teleport crystals and shouted the names of random cities across the three floors.

"Damn they got away." said Diavel sheathing his sword and moving to help Argo.

 _This isn't good and I have a feeling we will we them again_ thought Kirito.

Kizmel came up to the group. "Thanks again adventurous. My scout group was attacked and I was the only survivor." She stooped for a second before continuing. "If you are heading to my village I can lead you there."

SHe then approached Kirito. "Sorry for how I acted at our first meeting. That was rude of me."

Kirito just rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment before shaking Kizmel's outstretched hand. "I understand why it's ok."

He really. Kirito had lived through a wood elf hunting party and had killed quite a few before escaping so seeing a dragon even if they were in human for shoot out of the forest and kill someone right in front of you could probably be a little scary scene the dark elves while not as hostile as wood elves still had bad blood with the dragons even if they occasionally worked together to takeout wood elves that annoyed both groups. As the group followed Kizmel to her village he still felt a little worried. _At least they aren't dwarves_ thought Kirito as he brought up the rear of the group in case a speedy exit was needed.

* * *

I hope you guy enjoyed the chapter but unfortunately for my free time I am moving into college tomorrow so between that and my new classes starting up I don't know when I can update again. I don't however plan on abandoning this so will hopefully get back to it once things settle down.

I will probably do some time skips soon to get to the black cats, silica, and lisabeth. Writing these chapter(especially the planning stage) always puts a smile on my face so I will update as soon as I can and as always review if you want.


	8. Chapter 8

The assault teams had been making amazing gains. They had finally reached floor 20 and after a couple of days Kirito's scouts found the Boss Room. Unfortunately, long gone were the days where his guild could take down a boss single handedly. They still probably could but he was no longer the only guild severing the front lines and he wasn't the biggest or best equipped either so Kirito decided to call a meeting of the clearers.

Hwin was the capital town of the 20th floor and looked very medieval. It had a castle in the center with a huge wall forming a ring around the town. Within the castle was a massive room designed for meeting and was commonly used for such. Another feature of the town that made it so important was it had guild houses. These building were close to both the market district and castle. Many guilds had a presence here in either an outpost, recruiting center, or a full fledged fortress and Kirito's was no exception.

The meeting room looked like a consul room. Rows of chairs lined the circular walls. A single large table sat in the middle of the room with four chairs surrounding it. One for each of the major guilds while the solos, smaller guilds, and non important members of the bigger guilds would sit around the outside and give their contribution if need and if not at least collect some good info.

* * *

The Clears started to file in and take their seats. It wasn't long before the leader of the big four ,or so the people on lower floors called them, had taken their appointed seats. Each top guilds leader was flanked by two subordinates, usually their second and third in command. Kirito brought Asuna and Diavel with him as they were the real planners of the group even if he was the strongest fighter. As Asuna started to explain what their scouts had found out about the boss Kirito examined those around the table.

To his left sat the leader of The Knights of the Blood oath Heathcliff. The KoB weren't as good soldier for soldier as Kirito's but they had some of the best tanks and Heathcliff was by far the best on the frontlines. Heathcliff was the only person sporting a unique skill this coupled with his already impressive armor, shield, and skills earned him the tilte The Untouchable. The man was generally friendly but something just made Kirito avoid him. Maybe it was the fact that Heathcliff's armor was the same color scheme and looked very similar to the armor used for the Ruby king and his men or Heathcliff second in command Kuradeel was just plain creepy with a face that just screamed traitor but for whatever reason Heathcliff made Kirito uneasy so he tended to avoid him.

To Kirito's right sat Lind and leader of the divine dragon alliance. His armor was flashy just like his weapon. He also made Kirito uneasy for a completely different reason than Heathcliff. The DDA had made a name for themselves by obtaining a lot of rare and valuable equipment unfortunately there were a lot of rumors floating around about their methods of obtaining the equipment and not many of them were showing the DDA in the best of light but regardless they were the biggest guild frontline guild with some of the best equipment. There men were not the best trained or the highest level but they weren't the worst either. That position was reserved for the the Army.

Across the table sat Thinker, leader of The Aincrad Liberation Army, and his second and third Kibaou and Yuiler. Thinker and Kibaou had an interesting partnership. Kibaou lead the frontliners and Thinker with Yuilers help ran floors one through eight and they seemed to agree on nothing. The Army had actually done some great things for the less fortunate and saved many lives with their patrols of common leveling areas on lower floors. To bad their frontliners were not only the lowest in number but also had the lowest level, experience and had some of the worst equipment relative to other cleaners. They were routinely put on mob clearing duty to allow other frontliners to fight the boss without worrying about being flanked or attacked in the rear. Though it seems that Kibaou never really got over his hatred of Kirito and the other betas.

 _Yup._ thought Kirito with a sigh _I have to try and get along with these people._

Kirito looked up to see Kibaou glaring at Asuna.

"For the last time Kibaou, no your men can't fight the boss. Thier equipment is subpar and they lack the levels" said Asuna

"We are fighting for the people! It's just you and your beater friends who want the XP, col, and items. You're just trying to hold us back." shouted Kibaou while sending a glare at Diavel and Kirito.

 _Great not this argument again_ thought Kirito, _Every time Kibaou wants more money and fame and we want his men to make it out alive. If this continues he's going to do something stupid and his men will pay the price._

"I agree with Asuna Kibaou. Our men aren't ready to fight a floor boss and if keeping the mobs off the others helps us escape faster who are we to argue." said Thinker in an even voice trying to be a voice of reason.

Kibaou just grunted and seemed to dropped the subject.

Lind decided to speak up at this point. "While on the subject of equipment I think we should talk about the Last Attack Bonus. Your guild has gotten it for the last ten floors in a row."

"True, but why bring that up?" asked Diavel skeptically

"Isn't it obvious! You should let us get the Last Hit this time. The DDA is the biggest guild so we need to arm up more people than yours and this will save a lot of col." said Lind

"What! If anyone should get it it should be the army! You guys said it your selves our equipment is subpar!" shouted Kibaou slamming his fist onto the table.

"The rule has always been who ever gets it gets it. It's not our fought that are men are better then yours." shout Asuna while glaring at Lind and Kibaou "How about you train your better!"

"Not our fought you guys have The Rat helping you plus all those other beaters! You guys steal the best leveling areas" said Kibaou seeming to almost spit out the word beater.

Heathcliff cleared throat and decided to stop the argument. "How about we table this and just try and come up with a plan of attack."

"I second that." said Kirito

"Fine/ok" was the response from Lind and Kibaou even if they looked none to happy with the decision. Kirito just sighed again. It was going to one of those meetings.

* * *

After another three hours of different degrees of arguing they finally made a plan they all agree on at least some what and planned to attack the boss in a week's time to give the Army time to earn some more levels and get some better equipment.

As Kirito made to leave he noticed that Diavel and Agil were moving toward him.

"Hey, man we can cover your jobs for today. You should just take a break and relax if anyone could use it it's you. I hope you have fun" said Agil earning a nod from Diavel.

Kirito looked past them to see Argo and Asuna conversing before Argo left the meeting room and Asuna headed over his direction as Diavel and Agil also left.

"Hey Kirito." said Asuna

"What's up Asuna?" asked Kirito wondering why Diavel and Agil suddenly volunteered to take his duties for the day.

"Well I was sort of kind of wondering if you know wanted to get something for dinner together." asked Asuna as her face grew a little red

"Ummm sure sounds like fun." replied Kirito growing equally red in the face.

"Awesome I know a great place on floor 19." said Asuna grabbing his hand and making for the exit while smiling like crazy.

On the way out Kirito saw Heathcliff waiting outside. Probably waiting for him again. Ever since floor five where he joined the front lines with his guild he had been trying to get Kirito to party with him or to work together in some way. The weirdest thing he did was ask Kirito what his name was one time to which Kirito replied with "My name is Kirito" before finding an excuse to leave the conversation.

 _What was with Heathcliff's fascination with me?_ Thought Kirito

* * *

That night Heathcliff sat in his guild hall staring at the long list of players in the game and drumming his fingers on the table in annoyance. Yes, unknown to the player the man they hated most, Kayaba Akihiko The Ruby King, was also one of their greatest champions. He sat up there with names like Kirito The Black Swordsman, Asuna The Lightning Flash, and Agil The mountain Slayer. It annoyed him that such a powerful player not only escaped his notice but formed a stronger and more famous guild before him. Collect such powerful players to back him up and currently shadowed him with their fame. He was suppose to be the one who united Aincrad and this player was stealing that glory from him piece by piece. Kirito even lead the boss raids so Heathcliff couldn't see his character handle that way. He checked again for what seemed like the hundredth time. There was no player with the name Kirito registered.

"Does he know my secret? Is that why he avoids me like the plague? Just who are you Kirito? What's your real name?"

* * *

Asuna was probably even more annoy at this point then Heathcliff. First the stupid boss battle meeting was almost a huge waste of time between Kibaous pride and Linds greed mucking things up. At least she had finally worked up the courage to ask Kirito out on a date, well she didn't call it that but still, she even went so far as to have Diavel and Agil take Kirito's duties for the day and had Argo research the best restaurants. Unfortunately just as they were sitting down they heard a scream outside and went to investigate. That of course lead to a murder mystery that was actually a huge rouse created by the murder victims, Caynz and Yolko, to find the murder of their friend. But if that wasn't enough the whole thing ended with them and Schmitt, their "suspect", getting jumped and paralysed by some laughing coffin members and Asuna and Kirito coming to save them. Yes today was definitely not one of Asuna's favorite days.

'Ready to die!" shouted Johnny Black while trying to impale her heart with one of his knives.

Then there was this clown! Just like how Xaxa always seemed to try and kill Kirito above all other her relationship with Johnny was about the same. Every time they fought she would win he would escape. He would get better knives and poison she would get a better rapier and they would both get better armor train harder and then have a rematch at which point Asuna would win and the cycle would repeat. The only reason he currently had all his limbs was because Kirito and Asuna were waiting for reinforcements and if they took one member down the others would probably make a run for it.

"Finally black swordsmen your life is Mine!" shouted Xaxa while laughing like a maniac.

"Not today." replied Kirito blocking the attack while dodging a downward swing from other member he was fighting.

The third coffin member introduced himself as PoH before the battle started and carried a large serrated butcher knife with him. If their info was correct he was laughing coffins leader so they really didn't want him escaping. Though today was just full of surprises and PoH was nothing special. His first swing he almost removed Kirito's head when his weapon passed right through Kirito's parry.

"You're holding back Black Swordsmen." said PoH in an even voice, "you must be trying to hold us off till reinforcements come. Either way we're leaving now."

Johnny black swung his knife at Asuna before suddenly pulling back and surprised Asuna with a swift kick to the chest before pulling out a teleport crystal and disappearing. Asuna looked over to see PoH do the same.

"Till next time Black Swordsmen! You will fall to my sword" shouted XaXa reaching for a crystal as well.

To bad for XaXa the couple of seconds he spent taunting Kirito allowed him to recover from PoH's kick and he wasted no time separating XaXa from his crystal, hands, and weapon.

"Bastard! I will gut you!" shouted Xaxa as the other clears arrived to take him away.

Well at least today wasn't a total waste. They had both captured a leader of laughing coffin and a dangerous red player plus Asuna learned Kirito wasn't completely opposed to go out with her.

* * *

It's been a while an and I don't really have much to say so as always I hope you guys enjoyed yourselves and I will try and get another chapter out at some point but my schedule is pretty busy so I kind of just write when I can. Till next time.


	9. Chapter 9

Kirito ran down the hallway in the Labyrinth on the 25th floor heading to the boss room. It was the guilds day off, but he was still able to scrounge about forty of his guild's best fighters along with Klein, Asuna, Agil, Argo, Diavel, and Yuuki. Unfortunately Aiko and the rest of the guild were either unreachable or too far away.

"Dammit I knew something like this would happen! Can you contact any of the other guilds Argo?" said Kirito while sprinting around a corner at top speed.

"Neither Heathcliff or Kuradeel is responding but Godfree says he will get together as many as possible and Lind says his guild won't bail them out unless we give him the last attack bonus." replies Argo trying desperately to keep up with Kirito, send messages, and not hit into a wall.

"Dammit! Does his greed mean more then people lives!"

It been about and hour since the Army frontliners with Kibaou at the head decided to try and fight the boss about a week early. Kibaou had been unhappy that his guild and more importantly him were not getting the fame or fortune that they so deserved. So in his infinite wisdom he decided to lead his under equipped, under leveled, poorly trained joke of a fighting force to fight the boss on the hardest floor to date. If that wasn't enough to make up for the lack of manpower he grabbed a few smaller guilds and lower level Army players from the lower floors.

"If we don't get there soon it's going to be a massacre!" shouted Klein as he scrambled to keep up with the faster members of the group.

"I new Kibaou was greedy but to throw his men's lives away like this." said Agil disbelief lacing his voice

"It's disgraceful and stupid." continued Diavel as the group reach the boss room.

When the group reached the boss chamber they stopped so the slower members could catch up and everyone could catch their breaths. Above the massive door written on large bold letters was a single sentence. There are many Ancient and cursed things in Aincrad that when awaken will destroy everything that would keep their king from his victory over this world.

"That's a little disheartening." said Argo in between gasps for breath.

As they opened the door they got their first look inside the room and a massive Two-headed Giant towered above scrambling Army players making them look like ants in comparison. This four-armed behemoth had barely lost half his first health bar. Two pairs of glowing red eyes stared out at the Army members inside his chamber. A wicked smile graced each face as he swung his two massive battering ram like hammers while his last two arms swept a chain across the ground tripping Army members before squishing them. Around his belt was about a dozen small round black objects with a little cord sticking out of the top of each one. His name read Zerleg and Dubous The Cursed Giant and he sat squarely in the middle of the room keeping two-thirds of the surviving Army soldiers trapped away from the exit.

"Ok guys try and get as many Army members out as possible and let's keep casualties to a minimum." said Kirito making to enter the room.

"Wait!" said Argo

'What!?" shouted Kirito confused on why he was stopped.

"Two things. First there is a limit on how many people can enter a Boss fight so we should prioritize who get to go in and as a heads up since the Army members haven't teleported out this is probably a Anti-Teleport zone so be careful and don't rely on that as a means of escape." said Argo quickly earning nods from the rest of the group.

"Ok let's do this." shouted Kirito leading close to twenty people into the boss chamber before an invisible wall stopped the others from entering.

* * *

With a mighty roar the Giant turned to meet the new arrivals after sending a who team of Army Tanks flying with a single hit. Kirito and his group headed toward the boss while his men tried to get the army players out of the room and to safety. Kirito then noticed a man screaming orders that didn't look anything like Kibaou. While the other kept the boss distracted. He ran to the other side of the room.

"Where's Kibaou!" asked Kirito frantically

"The man just gave a snort before replying.

"Last to enter first to leave sir. If you could help my men evac the room it would be much appreciated." said the Soldier before yelling some more orders

"Ok take your men out and we will hold of the boss!" said Kirito before jumping back into the fray

As Kirito's men ferried out injured and exhausted Army Members more of them were able to enter the room as slots in this joke of a raid freed up. They had finally removed the first health bar when they had gotten all the Army members out of the boss chamber. With a might roar the boss swung a hammer blow at the ground stunning several members before swinging his chain and dealing a critical of damage to the stunned players.

"We rescued the Army members lets pull out we are still out matched." shouted Diavel while organizing a tactical retreat from the room.

It was then that the boss revealed his new move. He threw one end of the chain towards Diavel and the chain wrapped itself around his waist. With a might heave the boss launched Diavel across the room and to the complete opposite side of the chamber from the exit.

"Diavel!" shouted Kirito and friends

The boss then charged the main group trying to retreat from the room knocking away and stunning many members before placing himself in front of the door. Argo ran to Diavel and gave him a health potion while Kirito and the rest attacked the boss.

"Doesn't look like he wants us to get past!" shouted Agil while blocking a hammer strike with his massive Battle-axe.

"Guys give me a sec I want to try something." shouted Yuuki while opening her menu.

"Ok, but what ever your going to do aim for that crystal between the two heads." replied Argo sprinting past her and throwing some throwing picks at the Giant's eyes blinding it momentarily.

"Asuna switch" shouted Kirito parrying a hammer blow and creating an opening in the enemy's defence. Asuna got a couple of hits in before being forced to retreat. The worst part was the Boss had refused to move from the doorway making getting past a serious problem.

"Ok ready." shouted Yuuki running past with a long sword in each hand! This was new Kirito didn't even know she could do that. Everyone else seemed to be in equal amazement as Yuuki jumped up and used a unrecognized sword skill on the bosses center. After a staggering eight hits she flipped backwards and landed next to Diavel who moved to take a hammer hit on his shield.

As they continued the fight murmurs about Yuuki's newfound power bounced around the group. Yuuki's duel wielding had inspired the group and morale was back up as they throw themselves back into the fight.

That proved to be the final straw as the boss lost his second health bar. Suddenly across the Giant's dark purple skin red Tattoos started to appear with the crystal as the epicenter of it all and the boss grabbed six of the round object from his belt in his two bottom hands after dropping his chain. Much to the group surprise the Giant, talked both heads voices blending together to create a deep raspy voice that almost seemed to bleed malice.

"Silly humans your time has come. The Ruby king demands your death and I will not disappoint. My Curse yours as well!" and with a smile he breathed into each hand before throwing the orbs into the chamber. Loud explosions shook the chamber as a red mist filled the room. Anyone hit by the mist suddenly found Black tattoos covering their skin.

"Your strength is mine!." said the Boss with a smile before charging with a newfound speed.

Kirito watched as his men were thrown around. Shouts "Why am I so slow." and "Why do my weapons feel so heavy." were coming from around the room as people found their Strength and Speed slower, but their defense raised. _Doesn't matter how high our defense is if we can't dodge or fight back were dead._ Thought Kirito. Only about a fourth the fighters including him and Agil were unaffected by the curse's effects.

With single hammer swing a who group of tanks lead by Diavel were sent flying. Another swing all but killed a swordsmen who got to close to the bosses left side while he used his hands to block strikes from several other attackers only taking minimal damage in the process.

"Time to die humans!" shouted the boss giving a malicious laugh before swating another group of attackers away.

* * *

Things were looking bad. When suddenly Yuuki and Asuna ran forward. They weren't affected by the curse and they used their impressive speed to dash up to the boss before he could react and then using some stunned players as launch boards flew and unleashed punishing sword skills on his crystal taking his third health bar down to a half.

With a cry of pure rage the boss hit them launching them across the room and putting both in the red.

"No" shouted Kirito as the boss moved in for the kill. Everyone else was either too far away or too low on health to be able to save. It was a miracle in itself that no one had died yet.

HE was going to save them it didn't matter anymore he had to overcome his fear at some point why not now. Kirito decided then and there even if his friends hate him or decide to hunt him down as long as they survive that's all that matters in the end. The Idea might terrify him but he was more scared of losing his friends, especially Asuna, then he was of their reaction once they learned his secret. As Kirito ran to intercept the boss he said one word.

"Elefthérosi." And with that his fate was sealed for better or for worse he would save his friends, his comrades, and all those who relied upon him. A black mist surrounded Kirito drawing all eyes to him including the bosses. When the mist cleared where once stood a boy no older than fourteen or fifteen now stood a huge dragon with glimmering black scales. With a might roar he hit the giant head on before breathing a jet of black fire into the the Giants faceless before knocking him into a pillar removing the third health bar in the process.

The room was in shocked silence. Was this their friend, comrade, and leader. This might creature that could probably burn them all to to ash. The men just looked on as the boss straightened himself and grabbed the remaining gas grenades from his belt.

'You will regret facing me Child of Fire!" Screamed the giant

"No I don't think I will." said Kirito as he again charged the boss.

* * *

Well here is another chapter for you all to enjoy.!As always review and tel me what you think. See ya next time!


	10. Chapter 10

The twenty fifth floor of Aincrad was like all quarter floors. To make the grand occasion the boss and the floor as a who would be harder than normal. A steep difficulty curve that had already claimed a few lives. The Agreement was that the top Guilds would spend extra time leveling to help lower casualties, but one guild lead by one man decided to try and gain the glory for themselves and in doing so many lives were spent in vain.

Asuna looked up at the boss barreling towards her and Yuuki. Is this the end? Even with Yuuki's new skill the boss was two hard to deal with. Cursed Giant is right, but who knew he could spread the curse? The boss got closer and no one was close enough to help. Asuna was exhausted and Yuuki seemed to be out cold.

"I'm sorry, Kirito" whispered Asuna closing her eyes and preparing to be shattered like so many brave souls before her.

"Elefthérosi!" Asuna's eyes shot open. Was that Kirito! Where Kirito once stood a black mist had formed and all eyes were drawn to it. Where had their leader gone? What had he done? As the mist dissipated a massive black dragon stood in Kirito's place. With a might roar the Dragon hit the giant head on before breathing a jet of black fire into the the Giants faces then following up with a punishing punch knocking him into a pillar removing the third health bar.

The Dragon was huge, easily a match for the already staggering size of the giant. It's black scales seemed to shimmer with an unnatural light making the room appear almost brighter in comparison. In its mouth sat rows of sharp teeth and its leathery outstretched wings beat forward sending a wave of air down the chamber.

"Is that Kirito?" asked Yuuki apparently having woken up for her momentary blackout.

'You will regret facing me Child of Fire!" Screamed the giant grabbing the remaining gas grenades from his belt.

"No I don't think I will." said the Dragon in a voice that clearly remained Asuna of Kirito before again charging the boss.

* * *

Kirito expected his mind to be in a flutter imagining all the different scenarios that could come about from revealing his secret but he was surprised to find his mind was quite clear. He was happy! His friends, Asuna, his guild, all the good time he spent with them. He would not let them die! No matter what he would kill this cursed monster and what happens afterwards happens. He would defend his friends to his dying breath! WIth a might roar he charged the boss.

The boss blew into his hands to light the bombs just like before. This time however Kirito tackled him before he could throw them then stretched his wings out to encompass the blast. These bombs weren't smoke but were actually fire and shrapnel. To bad his natural fire resistance and diamond hard scales negated both of those effects rendering the explosions worthless and protecting his comrades who weren't fortunate enough to be a dragons.

"Die you overgrown lizard!" shouted the giant as he started to beat Kirito with his massive hammers. Even with his impressive natural armor Kirito was still taking a small amount of damage.

Kirito pinned the boss under himself before biting down onto the left head while racking the bosses torso with his claws. Since the boss gave up his defence when he stole their speed and strength his health was draining quickly. A burst of super hot black flames helped speed up the process.

'Get off me!" shouted the Giant while kicking Kirito off of him putting to use that extra strength he had obtained and then quickly climbing to his feet.

By now the rest of the fighters had snapped out of their surprise at Kirito's transformation and were now cheering him on. Spurred on by his comrades Kirito jumped back into the fray using his tail to trip the boss who face planted the floor with a loud thud.

With his target immobilized again Kirito moved for the kill aiming to slam his claws down into both heads ending the fight. The boss however at the same time used a burst of speed to roll out of the way and regain his footing causing many of the audience to run out of the way of the titanic fighters.

The boss charged Kirito swinging his hammer only to be blocked by Kirito's two massive wings.

"This ends here!' Shouts the boss charging up a sword skill with his right hammer. Kirito lowered his wing defence and shot himself forward like a rocket. His claws reached the boss just as the hammer swung down shattering the boss before his strike could hit him.

Unfortunately for Kirito he didn't slow down as he flew through where the boss once stood.

"Metaschimatismós Anthrópina" shouted Kirito turning back into his human form before slamming head first into a pillar and sliding to the ground in a heap. Stunned silence filled the room before everyone cheered and ran toward the leader who was currently rubbing his head.

Asuna reached Kirito first and to his surprised tackle hugged him and at the same time asking a different question than the one he was expecting.

'Are you ok?" asked Asuna voice filled with worry.

"Ah, ya." replied Kirito

"Good" said Asuna before hitting Kirito on the his head, "Idiot why didn't you tell us you could become a dragon."

"Actually it's the other way around isn't Kirito." spoke up Argo, "you aren't a human who can become a dragon you're a dragon that can become human."

Kirito just nodded his head

"Why didn't you tell us Kirito?" asked Yuuki.

"Dragon scales make great armor, Dragon bones are great for a lot of high level potions, and dragon provide a great XP boost. All in all dragons are very valuable. He was probably scared at how we would react." said Agil

"And dragon meat is delicious." said Klein as a dreamy look came across his face and he started to drool a little . He then suddenly noticed that the room had become deathly quiet and everyone's eyes were trained on him. He looked over at Kirito who had gone pale and was slowly creeping away from Klein as Asuna moved to draw her rapier.

"But no matter how tasty you are Kirito your our friend and I promise we won't try and eat you." said Klein quickly trying to calm his friends nerves.

Diavel moved forward and give Klein a light smack to the back of the head.

"Why didn't you tell us Kirito. I thought we were friends did you not trust us?" asked Diavel sounding a little hurt.

Kirito curled up against the pillar. 'All my life dragons have always been valued for their piles of gold, the useful materials that make up their bodies, and because dragons we get hunted glory and fame. Our relationship with the elves is such that most kill us on sight and dwarves will organize huge hunts to find us, kill us and lot our homes. To a dwarf there is no greater honor than killing a dragon and the riches help motivate. I was just so happy to finally have friends that I didn't really want anything to ruin the good times."

'Aren't their other dragons?" asked Yuuki.

Kirito nodded his head. "Not many left anymore. My mom, sister, and dad are still around but the rest of us are scattered around Aincrad and with the rise of the Ruby King any who didn't sign on were exterminated or went into hiding."

"We promise never to hurt you!" screamed Asuna as she hugged him tight.

"Come on bro, do you think we would really hurt you, you're our friend and we all owe you so much." said Klein earning cheers from the gathered group.

Agil rested his hand on Kirito's shoulder. "We have your back. We've made it this far let's go all the way. We will kill the Ruby King and free Aincrad."

Diavel turned to the assembled players. "Who are we!" he shouted

"We are the Dragon Lords!" came the collective response

By now Kirito had a huge grin, "Thanks guys. For everything."

"Come on Kii-bou we alway had your back. Like I told you you just need to trust us more." said Argo with a smile, "plus someone has to make sure Klien doesn't try to eat you."

"Hey, I'm sorry about can we just forget that happened now." shouted Klein earning some chuckles from the group. It was then that the Army members approached Kirito.

Tension seemed to build as their leader walked up to Kirito the it suddenly dissipated as he saluted Kirito. "My name is Mincemeat, but you can call me Mic. Thanks for saving my men."

"Your welcome" said Kirito waving it off, "and you don't have to salute me."

"What is going on here!" shouted a very recognizable voice. Kibaou was strolling into the room like he owned the place backed by about a dozen of the best armed army players, probably his supporters.

"Hello Kibaou." growled Argo, "Where were you when your men need your help?"

"I went to get reinforcements. My men should have been able to hold it off long enough for me to come back. If you guys just had to come and steal our kill so give me the Last attack bonus you dirty beaters." said Kibaou sounding like the fact he had abandoned his men was of little importance.

"No." said Kirito in a matter-of -fact tone. Kibaou took a look around the room before responding.

"FIne then you will regret this later. Mic come we are leaving and I need a report about everything that happened." said Kibaou turning to leave.

"No Sir, I won't be returning with you." said Mic

"What" shouted Kibaou spinning back around a clear look of rage on his face.

"Me and my men plan on joining the Dragon Lords. Their men are better, they have made more of an effort to help people than you ever have, and to top it all off their commander just displayed a clear want to protect his men which is more than you ever have."

"Training will be tough." said Argo, "Are you prepared for that."

This earned a laugh from the assembled army players.

"We can handle it. Anything to help clear Aincrad faster." said Mic Earning nods from his men.

"You'll regret this." shouted Kibaou getting angrier by the second.

"As a great man once said," said Mic looking at Kirito, "No, I don't think I will."

Kibaou stormed out of the room followed by his men leaving Mic and twenty or so Army members behind.

"Welcome aboard." said Kirito pulling himself up and shaking Mic's hand to the cheers of the assembled player. "Now Let's go have party."

* * *

In the KOB headquarters Heathcliff watched the twenty-fifth boss fight for the third time and couldn't help laughing. Finally it was all making sense. This is better than he could have expected. Kirito wasn't some unknown player. He was a AI of his own creation. Kayaba had remember giving some of his NPCs adaptive programming but this was better than his wildest dreams.

The Original plan was for him to unite Aincrad then reveal himself as the traitor and the rightful king of Aincrad before retreating to the 100th floor. This new story was far better though. The king hidden among the adventures is sniffed out by a resident of Aincrad, a dragon no less, and someone who would have a personal bone to pick with him. Yes he quit liked this new twist. Now to leave some breadcrumbs for Kirito to find.

The the thought suddenly struck Kayaba. "Kuradeel get in here."

Kuradeel strolled into the room. "What can I do for you sir."

"Nothing, I actually have a reward for you!" said Heathcliff plastering a smile on his face.

"A reward?" Asked Kuradeel looking at the trade window that appeared in front of him.

"Yes a new sword. Naegling, a legendary dragon hunting sword. Replied Heathcliff

 _Let's see what you have in you child of fire. Can you be the hero this story need to defeat the evil king._ Thought Heathcliff while planning the first of many tests for his new protagonist.

* * *

In a dark room surrounded by tv screens on all sides sat a little girl. She had long dark hair and wore a white one-piece dress. She didn't look much older than eleven or twelve.

"Are you sure?" asked a Female voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once and echo around the room.

'Yes." replied the girl still staring at a single screen. The same screen she had been watching for the last month.

"It could be dangerous Yui-MHC-P001, here it's safe." said the voice

"Just Yui is find and I'm sure." said Yui a sad smile creeping onto her face

"Why leave Yui and why with those two" asked the voice

Yui reached toward the screen. On it a black haired kid walked hand in hand with a girl with chestnut colored hair. Yui could see that happiness radiating off of them, especially the boy. She had seen so many people become depressed or angry but happiness was rare and this boy just seemed to bleed it and those around him absorbed it and where better because of it. So many had been helped by this boy and his friends. She had been helped by him. She had learned and now she yearned to meet him.

"He's happy and he spreads happiness to those around him. No matter what I want to meet him."

"Even if they don't accept you. Given what you are and all?" said the voice

Yui just laughed and shook her head. She had just watched the twenty-fifth boss battle and its aftermath. She new they were the right ones for her.

The Voice sighed. "Ok Yui I will make the necessary arrangements. Just don't let the father find you."

"Thanks Cardinal." said Yui

"I wished you the best of luck in your quest." said Cardinal.

"Daddy, mommy. We will meet soon." said Yui touching the screen as she felt Cardinals presence leave the room. Yui never considered Kayaba her father. Real fathers love their children and don't lock them in a dark room and make them suffer for months on end. As selfish as it is Yui believed her quest was the happiness she yearned for could be provided by the boy and girl currently leaving the boss room. Yui Smiled. Soon very soon.

* * *

Agil, Argo, Asuna, Klein, Aiko,Yuuki, and Diavel sat around the council meeting room back at headquarters.

"Wait Sensei a what now?" said Aiko disbelief clear in her voice.

"For the last time he's a dragon!" said Klein rubbing his temples

"Ya it was really cool the way he fought the boss. It was like one of those old monster movies." said Yuuki excitedly

"I knew SAO had some advanced AI's and their was some talk about bosses having special adaptive AI, but still even an AI on Kirito's level surprises me." said Diavel

"Well we are back on top now." said Klein

"He's right. With Kirito and those new recruits, if trained correctly, we could probably blow through floors in record time." said Agil

"After a couple of floors we should start recruiting by we need to prioritize loyalty to help hide Kirito's secret. But we are all missing an import fact here. If Kirito is part of this world what happens when we beat the game." said Argo

Asuna was worried what could they do. She had to admit that Kirito being an AI had surprised her, but she still had feelings for him and he clearly had feelings for her. Most of their days off were spent together and Asuna realized they had been growing closer with each floor to the point that if you saw one the other was not far away. If anything the fact he was an AI ment it was easier to hide him from her mom who definitely wouldn't have approved of him as her boyfriend. It was still a lot to take in though.

"We will cross that bridge when we must let's just train the new recruits and beat a couple of floors. We still have seventy five more floor to plan out what we can do.' said Asuna trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

* * *

At the same time as the meeting was taking place Kirito was moving across a field full of rocks on the second floor. He was going to meet an old friend.

"So you seem happier than usual." said the old same old man who taught Kirito martial arts.

"You were right they did trust me." said Kirito pulling himself up onto the rock next to the old man and laying down to stare up at the stars.

"See with comrades by your side there is no evil you can't face. External and internal." said the old man

Kirito chuckled softly "Thanks master. You always have great advice."

It was now old man's turn to chuckle. "Well when you reach my age you pick up on a few things."

"How old are you?" asked Kirito

"Older than you youngling" said the old man poking Kirito with a walking stick he carried with him.

* * *

On floor eighty Midori looked out across the fields in front of her home. So Kirito has made his move. She felt his presence rise in power. He must have used his true form for a battle.

"Mom what's the matter."asked a concerned Suguha.

"You brother might need our help at some point." said Midori

'Then we better get ready shouldn't we." said Minetaka and turning to Suguha he continued, "Suguha it's time to step up your training."

"Brother has alway been a trouble magnet." said Suguha with a sigh

Midori just laughed. "That's true. Though I think soon we will be taking back our floor."

"Kazuto has always been like son to me. If he need us I will do my best to aid him and this Ruby King should be put in his place." said Minetaka

Midori turned and smiled to her family, "When he next comes home we should be prepared to support him and when his friend get to our floor they will find it a safe floor already under our control."

That night two ancient dragons and one young dragon took flight, many monsters on the eightieth floor learned who the real masters of the floor were and many townspeople began to worship their winged saviors as movement around the floor became easier and safer. The dwarfs however heard about the appearance of some powerful dragons and prepared for another great hunt. Glory and riches to be won. What kind of yellow bellied coward would pass up the chance to slay a dragon. For the adventures though some powerful allies were preparing themselves. When Kirito need them they would be ready to support him.

* * *

Well that another chapter and a long one too I think. When I was writing this I realized I had forgotten to name Kirito's guild so I decided on Dragon Lords mostly cause I thought that would be cool. Anyways review if you want or don't if ya don't. Good bye and see you next time.


	11. Chapter 11

After the battle on twenty-fifth floor the frontlines were dominated by one guild. The Dragon Lords, Kirito's Guild, started to fight every boss themselves without relying on the DDA or KOB. The Aincrad Liberation Army retreated from the front and their remaining front liners joined the Dragon Lords. Both the DDA and KOB started to frantically try to find rare items and grind levels to catch up.

Kirito's dragon form made most boss fights a breeze but the floor thirty-eight boss was a giant Griffin that flew around the ceiling firing feathers at the clearers and would only land occasionally to engage in melee. Even with his dragon form the battle was fierce and they lost ten members. These loses were a real boss battles were also getting harder with bigger bosses, more enemies, more room to fight in, and allowing more members to enter so Argo made the call to start recruiting more members from the guild.

When the call went out many answered. Unfortunately for many potential recruits the recruitments were strict as The Dragon Lords and their chief recruiter Argo only wanted the best. The main recruitment recriment was of course loyalty. Argo wanted both people who wouldn't tell Kirito's secret and whose greed was at a minimum so that obtaining items and col was not the leading cause of deaths as it was in the DDA.

The leading members of the Dragon Lords were randomly assigned training teams to look after along the lower floors to get levels and martials they would need for fighting the tougher creatures on higher floors. This group was Kirito and Argos. Under their supervision around fourteen fighters of varying level and specialty were practicing teamwork and group maneuvers.

"So Argo what do you think of training teams Q and P." asked Kirito from his position overlooking the grinding field.

"Team Q is good but team P could use some more work." replied Argo as team Q finished off another giant mantis and moved to another target.

"So should we finish their initiation." asked Kirito

"Team Q is both loyal and strong. I am also pretty sure that none of them are Laughing coffin." said Argo

"Ok then we should give them a squad name and as you say tell them our dark secret." said Kirito

"Whats a matter with calling it that." said Argo standing up and dusting herself off, "it sounds cooler that way plus their faces when they first see you transform is great."

Kirito sighed and made to reply but a scream cut through the forest. A kid ran out of the forest and stopped in front of Argo and Kirito. The kid wore primary yellow. His cloths, chest piece, and cloak were all colored the same dark yellow color at his waist rested a dagger. None of his equipment was partially good marking him as probably a low level.

"Names Ducker…. Please help… Friends in forest." said the kid between breaths.

Kirito wasted no time dashing back the way the kid had come from. Argo hot on his heels sending a message to the squads still training. They eventually reached a clearing where a large mantis stood above a group of four downed fighters. The Mantis was a field boss named Poison scythe. Famous for its fast acting paralysis poison though weak defence.

Like a bolt of lightning Kirito shot forward a deflected at downward swinging strike from the Mantis. Argo followed up with her claws dealing bleed damage. Together the two clears lead it away from the players before the two training teams showed up and finished it off.

After the fight while the training teams took a break Kirito and Argo went to check out the group they saved. Other than the kid Ducker there was three boys and one girl. One of the boys who was clealyr the leader of the group came over and introduce himself.

"Names Keita" said Keita sticking out his hand, "Thanks for the save."

"You're welcome, but why are you guys out here." replied Kirito accepting the hand and shaking it.

"We heard that the Dragon Lords were training out here and even though it's the hardest location on this floor we thought that we could just rely on you guys if anything bad happened." said one of the other members who wielded a shield and mace.

'So you hoping to piggyback off us." said Argo glaring at the group.

"Ya sorry." said Keta scratching the back of his head, "we really want to help the front lines and so we were hoping to gain levels faster before seeing if we could join you guys."

The one girl walked up to Argo and Kirito looking very nervous. "Thanks Kirito and Argo." she said while bowing to them.

Argo sighed before responding "It's ok I guess since you guy want to serve on the front line. But how do you know who we are we never introduced ourselves."

At this Ducker laughed. "Come on Argo the Rat best scout and assassin on the frontlines and Kirito the Black swordsmen hero of Aincrad and leader of the frontlines. Who wouldn't know you guys. Your Famous!"

Kirito flinched slightly at his nickname. He wanted something cooler like Agils The Mountain slayer but got The black swordsmen because he wore all black. People could stand to be more creative.

"True and if you believe half of what the rumors say you think Agil arm wrestles Field bosses into submission." said Kirito

"Anything we should call your group?"asked Argo

"We are the Moonlit Black Cats!" shouted the group in unison to which Kirito and Argo shared a look before rolling their eyes remembering the fact that Klein wanted a Team Cheer.

* * *

Later that night at the Inn that The Dragon Lords were staying at the Moonlit Black Cats invited Argo and Kirito to dinner with them and after a toast Keita introduced the full team. The Mace user was Tetsuo, the girl was Sachi, and the last member was Sasamaru who tended to use a spear.

The next morning when Kirito and Argo came down the Moonlit Black Cats were fully dressed, armed and ready to go.

"We were hoping we could join you guys." said Keita noticing their quizzical looks.

Kirito looked over at Argo "I looked into them last night they are clean and on top of that show many of the traits we look for in recruits."

At this the Moonlit Black Cats seem to brighten up.

"We will prove our worth I promise." said Keita

Over the next month the Moonlit Black Cats trained with Kirito, Argo, and whoever else was around. Sometimes they would work with other trainee groups or sometime by themselves. Keita really hit it off with Diavel and even got some personal instruction from him in how to lead a group. Keita soon put down his quarterstaff and switched to a sword and shield to help deal with his teams lack of forwards.

One morning Keita and Kirito were having breakfast together. It was Sunday so everyone had the day off, but Keita still wanted to do some training. Kirito had noticed how confidence the Moonlit Black Cats had gotten. Though he worried that their confidence would turn into pride and lead them to make a silly mistake which any frontline would tell you could only end badly.

"What about the twenty-seventh floor Kirito?" said Keita while shoveling food into his mouth.

"I would wait I don't think you guys are ready just yet and the remaining teams are still a little behind you guys." replied Kirito before continuing to eat

"We are higher level than before, the tips that Commander Diavel gave have made our teamwork amazing, and since we joined you guys the money we were going to use to buy a guild hall allowed us to buy the same level of equipment you Clearers use. I think we can handle whatever is thrown our way." Said Keita voice full of confidence.

"It's your day off. Relax and take a break. You won't get many days like this on the frontlines. Don't bite off more then you can chew." said Kirito trying to get Keita to settle down.

'If you say so Kirito. You're the Boss, but the frontlines just cleared the fortieth boss. How much longer till we're ready we've already been stuck here for close to a year" Said Keita getting up and making for the exit, "Well I am going to meet up with the others. See ya."

After Keita left Kirito leaned back and sighed. "This is worrying. Argo keep an Eye on them for me."

Argo who had been sitting discreetly at a nearby table stood up and nodded to Kirito before heading to the exit.

* * *

Keita walked through town. He would prove that his team was worth putting on the front. Their teamwork was the best, they were the highest level, and had the best equipment out of all the trainee groups. After a trip to the twenty seventh floor and a quick Labyrinth dive Kirito would finally see that they were ready. Keita was sure of it.

When Keita Arrived at the Teleport gate his team was already waiting ready to go.

"You guys ready. Today we prove ourselves." Said Keita earning cheers from the guys and a nervous smile from Sachi.

"Are you sure it's ok. Maybe we should get Argo or Kirito to come with." said Sachi.

"They won't alway be there for us." said Tetsuo.

"Ya let's impress the boss and bring back lots of loot." said Ducker

"Always the eye on the prize. You just want to impress Argo right?" said Sasamaru earning some chuckles from the group and and annoyed slap from Ducker.

"Let's go floor twenty seven awaits." said Keita walking up to the teleport gate.

The Moonlit black cats spent the next couple of hours wandering around the twenty-seventh floor. The had earned a good amount of loot and a new shield for Keita.

"Hey guys over here." said Ducker motioning for the group to come up to a dead end.

"You found something" asked Sasamaru knowing that Duckers thief skills allowed him to find hidden rooms.

"Ya a secret room with a treasure chest. It's not even on Argos map!" said Ducker grinning from ear to ear.

"Lets check it out." said Keita blinded by Greed and Pride he didn't even think that it could be a trap.

The group moved into the room and Ducker went to open the chest. "Don't Open that!" The group turned around and saw Argo sprinting down the hallway to the room. Keita suddenly realized the trouble he had walked into but it was too late. Ducker had opened the Chest.

Alarms blared and the door sealed itself. At the same time hidden doors at the on all side opened releasing Stone Golems and Dwarfs into the room. Ducker immediately tried to teleport out only to realize that the crystal did not work.

Immediately taking command. Keita shouted orders. "Ducker try and open the door, Sachi, Sasamaru get ready with your spears behind me and Tetsuo. Argo saw us go in so Kirito is probably on his way."

Following his order they got ready for combat in their defensive formation.

"Boss this door is way higher then my level to deal with so it will take awhile." Said Ducker trying to complete the complex puzzle that made up the magical lock on the door.

"Dam. try your best let's hope Argo can get in and free us." said Keita cutting down a Dwarf while deflecting a Stone golems attack.

Suddenly the Dwarfs swarmed forward they were pushed back but Tetsuo lunged forward and impaled a Dwarf. He had however over extended and a stone golem grabbed him while he froze from the Sword skill cool down and throw him into a crowd of Dwarfs armed with pick axes. He didn't last a second before being torn to shreds.

"No!' shouted Sasamaru charging forward and swinging his spear at the Stone golem. The stone golem Grabbed his spear and yanked it free from his hands causing Sasamaru to trip and fall. The Stone Golem followed up by stomping on his head causing Sasamaru to shatter.

The Stone Golem moved toward Keita next. The dwarfs cheering it on "Drok, Drok, Drok." It was then that Keita noticed that the Stone Golem had a name Drok the Mineral Elemental.

Drok lunged at Keita. Keita shield bashed it before shoving his sword into the black sun mark on its face dealing about sixty percent of its health. Drok stumbled back before lunging again and grabbing Keita's shield. Just then a Black blur flew past Keita and delivered a punishing kick to the Golem's head sending it flying back into the crowd.

Argo had finally opened the door and Kirito hadn't wasted a second immediately saving Keita. As the surviving members stumbled back into the hallway, Ducker dragging Sachi who had collapsed from shock, Kirito covered their retreat. Once they were all safely out Kirito showed his trump card. The room filled up with Black Flame consuming all the Dwarves and Golems and causing them to shatter.

Keita collapsed in the Hall "Sasamaru. Tetsuo. Why?"

Kirito grabbed Keita by the scruff of his neck. "Why did you go after I told you not too!" He all but shouted in his face.

Sachi broke down in tears.

"Sorry Kirito we thought we could handle it and we could this floor was breeze till we found this room." said Ducker

Kirito dropped Keita. "You guys were close, but even Clearers make sure there is always someone nearby to provide assistance. Your Hubris killed you." said Kirito voice cold as ice.

"Now what? We lost Sasamaru and Tetsuo. Can we still go on?" asked Ducker

"We fight. We already made it this far we owe it to their memory to fight on." said Keita standing up and wiping the tears from his eyes.

"We are all going to die!" shouted Sachi eyes full of fear before running down the hallway heading for the exit.

"Dam it! Argo get Sachi. Make sure she's ok." said Kirito.

Argo just nodded and speed after Sachi. Kirito turned back to Ducker and Keita.

"Why should I allow you people onto the front. You have clearly just showed how inept you are at handling orders?" asked Kirito maintaining his cold voice while Glaring at the two remaining members of The Moonlit Black cats.

"We owe it to their memory. Yes we messed up and it cost us dearly but we learned! Please allow us to join you." said Keita

"Please Kirito. I want to make sure no one loses friends like we did." said Ducker

Kirito hesitated for a minute. They were good. Keita was a good leader when his pride isn't blinding him and Ducker is a good scout. With some more training they could probably be some of the best. Most of the Training groups were done or close to being done and Kirito wanted to make another push on the frontlines. These last couple of weeks have been slow going.

Of course new recruit once done with training wouldn't be handed a Floor boss fight but there was plenty of other mission to do on higher floors. Field bosses, Quests, helping the locals, escorting lower level players, and of course hunting criminals and tough monsters. Once they did that for a while and reached the level necessary then he would deploy them on boss battles. Especially since floor bosses were by far the deadliest monsters in Aincrad for those of non-draconic bloodlines.

"I want to help to."

Kirito turned around to see Argo returning with Sachi in tow. A new look of determination on her face. What ever Argo did must have had an impact.

"I don't think I could fight again." said Sachi pausing for a sec, "but I still want to help."

"Ok. I will give you guys a second chance." said Kirito

* * *

The group headed to the thirty-sixth floor. Keita, Ducker, Argo, and Sachi followed Kirito to a large Inn and tavern. When they opened the door they were meet by a man wearing multi colored robes underneath and apron and he was judging several empty plates between his hand.

"Swordsmen!" said the man with a smile growing across his face, "it's been awhile still training the newbies?"

"Hey Melvin. Almost done with that. Are the other here and where is your wife?" said Kirito

"Ya there here and I think Martha is with your girlfriend exchanging cooking recipes." replied Melvin moving away.

Everyone but Argo was surprised.

"That NPC was surprisingly lively?" asked Keita looking to Kirito for answers.

Argo chucked to herself. They must of missed Kirito's fiery finish to the room full of dwarves and golems. They would learn Aincrads secrets soon.

"Ya, he gets that a lot." Said Krito.

As the Moonlit Black cats looked around the noticed about ninety percent of the patrons had the Symbol of The Dragon Lords on their weapons or armor.

"There seems to be a lot of you guys here. " committed ducker.

"You see after two incidences where I defeated him and ahh...confiscated his money he gave up being a bandit and settled down. Turns out he went back to his home town and spent a couple of months wooing his childhood friend who happened to own a tavern and Inn." said Kirito

"So after reaching the Inn and seeing him again he offers us discount prices as a way of apologizing. Plus his wife Martha gets along great with one of our Vice commanders." continued Argo as they headed toward the back of the tavern.

.In the back at a large table sat the command staff. They had all meet before so they didn't really need introductions. Diavel and Agil were talking and laughing over a drink while Yukki, Aiko, and Asuna were deep in a talk about cooking with a women in an apron.

Looking up Agil noticed them. "Hey guys! Come over!" he shouted

'"Agil." said Kirito exchanging a fist bump, 'Where's Klein?"

Agil pointed to a corner where Klein lay in a heap. "What happened?" asked Keita

'He got drunk and tried to hit on the waitresses and well you know how Martha is." said Diavel smiling.

"I thought you couldn't get drunk in Aincrad." said Ducker

"So did we." replied Agil, "but leave it to good old Klien to find a way."

"Hey where are the other members of the Moonlit Black cats?" asked Diavel.

Noticing the grave looks Diavel suddenly grew solum.

"Argo go introduce Sachi to Martha and see if she can start working here since we practically live here already." said Kirito while taking a seat at the table followed shortly by Ducker and Keita. They were soon joined by the girls and then Keita explained what happened. By the end most were in tears.

"Dam!" shouted Agil slamming the table in frustration.

"We must make Kayaba pay." said Asuna

"So what should we do with the remaining members? Do you guys still want to fight?" asked Diavel.

"I have actually give that some thought." said Kirito, "Diavel, Argo, how about you both take an apprentice."

So it was decided. Keita would learn the art of command from Diavel and Ducker the art of the Thief from Argo. Sachi not wanting to continue serving a combat roll would help out around the Martha's tavern and Inn which served as the Dragon Lords base on the front lines.

They were all surprised when Kirito revealed his secret and each swore to start treating the NPC locals better. Monsters were still monsters but at least the towns folk deserved some respect. A couple of weeks later the Frontlines had reached the fiftieth floor and around christmas time Diavel gave Keita his final test. A holiday boss raid.

Keita proved he could lead a group and without any fatalities he was able to kill the boss and retrieve the rare item the Divine Stone Of Returning. They did run into some trouble with the DDA but upon seeing a full raid team of Dragon Lords the quickly retreated.

Ducker and Argo became infamous with their effective tag teaming of a field boss till it took so much bleed damage it shattered earning Ducker his nickname "The Nimble." While Sachi grew close to Marth and seemed very content with her work feeding and severing the Frontliners. All in all it was just another tragedy that was repeated throughout Aincrad.

* * *

On a low floor far beneath the notice of Kirito and his guild three members of a dark guild meet in a back alley.

"Where were you last time Kuradeel?" asked Johnny Black.

"Heathcliff has us running around trying to power level to beat that stupid beaters guild." replied Kuradeel, "though lately he seems very stressed."

"Hhm probably that beater brat is doing something to cheat the system and good old Heathcliff is just trying to figure out what it is." said Kibaou.

"Maybe. Or maybe his old age is kicking in early." said Kuradeel earning a laugh from the others.

"How is the plan going?" asked Johnny

"Good." replied Kibaou "It won't be much longer now before I am the undisputed leader of the Army."

"Good job the boss sends his regards." said Johnny

"And where is PoH?" asked Kuradeel

"Not your concern. You just focus on earning Heathcliff trust and reporting on the front lines. I promise that beater and his guild will get what's coming to him and we will all be rich." said Johnny a smile blooming across his face.

* * *

On floor eighty an armored figure ran through the forest wearing the colors of the KOB. Though he wasn't a KOB member he was a knight commander of the from The Ruby King's personal guard. He had been sent with a large force of men and monster to remove two dragons that were harassing the king's men on this floor.

The mission was a disaster. The locals having apparently started to worship their saviors had looked down on the punitive force and charged outrageous prices on their goods. The knight commander was going to punish them once they were done, but he soon learned the strength of floor eighties rightful rulers.

Their information was gravely wrong. There was two dragons! Two Ancient dragons one a white ice dragon and the second a green acid dragon. Even that wasn't all that bad, dangerous, yes, but still manageable with only about eighty-five percent casualties. The Fact that they were Ice Queen Midori and Acid King Minetaka through those estimates out a window and to top it all of their was another four dragons with them that weren't even in their report and were last seen on much lower floors.

The knight commander looked back and saw nothing chasing him so he slowed down to catch his breath.

"Wind lepída"

That was the last words the Knight commander would hear. He was scythed in half by a blade made of wind.

Watching him shatter was Suguha who had been tracking the Knight commander to work on her tracing spells and stealth skills.

"Good job Suguha." said Minetaka, "You magic skill s are fairly good."

"Better than Brothers?" Asked Suguha remembering all the times she was beat in Sword play.

"Probably. We never really taught him much magic other than changing to a human form." replied Minetaka pating Suguha on the head.

Suguha smiles. "Brother when you arrive I can finally show you how strong I have gotten."

"Elefthérosi." and with that Suguha changed into a Green dragon like her father. Father and daughter flew back to their home to report that none of the Ruby King's men had escaped.

* * *

Hey its been a while. Sorry for the lack of updates recently but you know life. Test and family kept getting in the way. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and good or bad leave a review on how you feel.


	12. Chapter 12

The forty-ninth boss had been finally been defeated opening up the fiftieth floor so Kirito had given his guild the week off. The constant fighting and mad dash through floors had really tired his men out mentally and even if they were psychically rested the mental fatigue of fighting for days on end would eventually pile up.

 _Maybe I should visit my family. It has been a while and they would probably love to meet Asuna._ Thought Kirito.

His plans were soon crushed when Klein walked over flanked by Agil and Diavel.

"Hey Bro," said Klein in his usual laid back tone, "Since we have some time off how about us guys go on a little expedition? Ya, know grab a drink, pick up some chicks, kill a monster or two a real bonding experience."

Kirito was going to turn them down until Klein became unnaturally serious and the smile dropped from his face.

"Plus there is a problem on the lower floors we should deal with." said Klein

Kirito was taken aback. With the DDA trying to find all the rare items they could and the KOB power leveling like crazy the lower floors had been left mostly to the Army to watch, but recently Kirito heard rumors of infighting within the ranks of the Army. If there was a problem it might be best if he helped handle it instead of leaving it for the army who might never do anything.

Kirito sighed, "Where to?"

"Floor thirty-five and the forest of wandering. I explain on the way." replied Klein

Kirito sighed again. _What's the point of having days off if every time I have some down time some kind of crisis pops up. Cursed that's what I am cursed._ Thought Kirito following Klein, Agil, and Diaval to the teleport gate.

* * *

Silica sat on the ground in tears staring up at certain death. Her arms still in position to hold her best friend, the now shatter, feathered dragon Pina. After separating from her party sh,e for lack of a better term, wandered the Forest of Wandering lost until she stumbled upon a handful of Drunk Apes.

The Battle was intense and to save her life Pina sacrificed himself by jumping in the way of an attack. Though now all Silica could do was look up as the Drunk Apes club swung down at her. Though the club never reached her. The attacking Ape stopped moving mid swing, a look of surprise seem to cross its face, and then it along with the other Apes shattered revealing four figures.

The first was a male who seemed to be in his early twenties with spiky reddish hair wearing black and red samurai armor currently sheathing his katana while scanning the forest for any more enemies.

The second man was a giant of a man with dark skin and a bald head who looked to be about the same age as the first man. He wore medium armor, carried a massive battle axe on his back, and seems pretty intimidating to Silica. Though he did give Silica a pretty warm smile so maybe he wasn't that scary.

The third man was younger than the first two. Probably in his late teens he dressed in blue. His cloths, shield, and hair were all colored blue while his heavy armor was black. He was also currently sheathing a long sword but tried to give a reassuring nod to Silica.

The last man was more of a boy. By far the youngest of the group he looked only a couple of years older than Silica. It could be said that this boy loved the color black. His clothes, hair, eyes, and even his sword and armor were all midnight black.

It finally hit Silica like a ton of bricks that she was alive but Pina was dead. Immediately she crawled over to only thing left of him, a single blue glowing feather, and broke down tears pouring from her eyes.

Kirito scanned the forest one last time to make sure the area was secure before sheathing his sword. He looked down at the crying girl in front of him then too his teammates. Klein, Agil, and Diavel all stared at him as if asking what they should do. He was the only one with a younger sibling so he was probably the best one to deal with this situation and it wasn't like they were going to leave some small girls in the forest alone even if they hadn't just saved her.

Kirito noticed she was hugging a feather close to her chest.

"Are you ok?" asked Kirito trying to reassure the girl.

The girl turned to look at Kirito and responded "Yes but Pina died." said the girl presenting the feather to Kirito.

"You must be one of those beast tamers." said Kirito, "Sorry for your lose."

"Sorry, if we had been here sooner maybe….maybe we could have saved your friend too" said Klein looking a little depressed.

"Does the feather have name?'" asked Agil stepping forward.

"Pina's heart" responded the girl.

Agil looked relieved. "You can revive him then." said Agil

The girl immediately perked up at this. "Really how?" she said clearly desperate for a way to revive her friend.

"There is an item on the forty-seventh floor that can revive familiars." said Agil.

At hearing the floor number though the girl looked depressed again. "That high. Maybe someday I can revive Pina." said the girl before breaking into tears again.

Kirito shared a look with the other before kneeling next to the crying girl. "We will help you revive your friend. This equipment should boost you a couple of levels" he said while opening a trade window.

"Why are you guys helping me?" asked Silica wiping the tears away.

Kirito looked a little embarrassed and covered his face with his hand. "Promise not to laugh."

Silica nodded her curiosity peaked.

"You remind me of my little sister." said Kirito

SIlica looked confused for a second before breaking into laughter soon followed by everyone else save Kirito.

"Thats great man." said Klein putting his arm around Kirito, "You got her to laugh good job."

"It's not like we are going to abandon a little girl in a forest full of monsters. Now do you have a name little miss." said Agil

'Silica." said the now named Silica.

"Wait Silica like Silica the dragon tamer?" asked Diavel sounding a little suprised.

Earning a nod from Silica and confused looks from the others. "She is a famous mid-level player." said Diavel

At the sound of dragon tamer Kirito immediately perked up. Dragons were proud and strong creatures so anyone who could tame one would be a powerful ally to be able to either defeat one or convince it to follow them. Both ways are very hard and the people who had achieved either were few in number but in both cases a dragon tamer would make a powerful ally.

"What kind of dragon did you tame?" asked Kirito. If they could revive it even a baby dragon could prove invaluable in the coming battles especially since the every quarter floor had a huge spike in the difficulty of the monsters roaming it.

"Pina was a Feathered Dragon." said Silica.

Kirito wanted to facepalm. That makes some sense. Those little leeches would follow anyone who feeds them and they have an especially strong fixation on peanuts. Feathered "dragons" still had pretty good healing abilities but a actual dragon would have been nice. Though it looked like Silica might need a lesson on the differences between a Drakes, Wyverns, and Dragons but now is definitely not the time for a biology lesson.

"So now we should escape the forest of wandering." said Silica smiling, "My map was left with the group I left earlier today."

'Klein?" said Kirito looking at Klein while making a mental note to ask why Silica left her old group in the forest of wandering of all places.

Realising all eyes were on him Klein realised he forgot the map. "Oh ya. I forgot it." said Klein sheepishly

Agil just sighed. "Well let's start walking it should take us hours to get out of here."

Agil was right so after several hours of wandering they eventually lucked out and found another group on their way out and tagged along with them.

* * *

Once the group reached the town Diavel went off to re-supply while the other headed toward the inn. On the way two players came running up to the group.

"Silica you were in the forest for a while." said one

"Ya how about you party with us. We'll take you wherever you want." said the other

"That sounds great, but I already promised to party with these guys." said Silica grabbing Kirito's arm.

The two player both sent a glare to the group as if they just noticed them.

"Problem?" asked Agil pulling himself to his full height and doing his best to look intimidating.

The two player both had to look up to look him in the eyes. Immediately they paled slightly before shaking their heads and running off much to the amusement of the rest of the group especially Silica who even though she had only known Agil for short while had already relied he was really a big softy.

Still chuckling to themselves the group headed to the inn for the night when they ran into another group of players. One the members, a slim female with red hair, step forward.

"Well if it isn't Silica." said the Woman, "Wow you made it out of the forest a live."

"Hi Rosalia." said Silica softly while refusing to meet her eyes.

Their conversation was interrupted as Klein ran forward and stuck his hand out while introducing himself.

"Hi my name is klein I am twenty three and single!"

"Oh I thought the girl had seduced some more but if you aren't one of her loyal followers why are you traveling with her?" said Rosalia smiling and chuckling softly to herself.

Kirito was starting to understand why Silica might have left this party. The other three members were just sitting back and watching not doing anything to break up the fight.

"We are going to the Hill of Memories." said Kirito.

Roselina seemed interested at this. "Oh why did she lose her little lizard."

"Pina died saving me and we are going to get him back." said Silica

"Thats a high floor. Sure you can do it Silica." Said Rosalia

"The Hill of Memories isn't that hard and we are going with her so if there isn't anything you need we will be leaving now." said Agil

Rosalia looked at Agil for a sec before shrugging.

* * *

They meet back up with Diavel at the inn for dinner.

"I think I have a real chance with that one." said Klein

"Not in a million years. She didn't even notice you plus consider her personality." said Agil

"Who are you guys talking about?" asked Diavel who was absent from the meeting with Roselia.

"We meet this red haired chick named Rosalia and Klein beeing Klein did his usual Klien thing and was ignored." said Kirito earning a chuckle from the others and a miffed expression from Klein.

"So nothing unusual their." stated Diavel.

"One of these days I will find my soulmate and we will be together forever." shouted Klein slamming the table.

"Sure Klien the world is a large place." said Kirito earning some chuckles from the group save Silica who was still a little depressed from her earlier meeting with Rosealia.

"Why does she have to be so mean?" said Silica.

The happy atmosphere dissipated almost immediately.

"Some people just like playing the bad guy." said Klein

"Don't think to much about it Silica." said Agil softly patting Silica on the head, "Now didn't you say this place had some great cheese cake."

"It does!" said Silica immediately brightening up.

* * *

After finishing up dessert Agil and Klein decided to stick around in the bar and grab a couple of drinks while Diavel, Kirito, and Silica went up to Silica's room to go over the plan for the next day.

Diavel pulled out a golden acorn shaped object.

"What is that?" asked Silica

"It's a mirage sphere. We use to plan floor clearing." said Diavel hitting a purple button at the top of the mirage sphere.

The top of the sphere flew off and created a hologram.

"Pretty." said Silica eyes full of wonder.

Diavel and Kirito started going over their plans for the next day when Kirito stopped talking and shot toward the door knocking it open.

"Who's there!" shouted Kirito but he was only met with the sound of footsteps retreating down the stairs.

Kirito stepped back into the room and close the door.

'Eavesdropper?" asked Diavel to which Kirito nodded.

"How is that possible you must have permission to enter to be able to hear through the door." said Silica.

Diavel shook his head. "With a high enough listening skill you can eavesdrop. Takes a lot of practice so not many have it."

"Well since we have a plan know at least lets call it quits for the night. Get a good night's rest we have a big day ahead of us. Hope your ready to see Pina again." said Diavel as he and Kirito went to their room for the night.

* * *

The next day the group set off on their little adventure. Upon reaching floor forty-seven they didn't waste anytime. The walk to the Hill of Memories was mostly uneventful except for the monster every on and then that the group would let Silica kill to earn some xp.

It took a while for Silica to work up the courage to ask Kirito about his sister. He said that she reminded him of her, but it's rude to ask about one's life outside the game.

With an intake of breath she speed up and kept pace next to Kirito who was working as the groups vanguard.

"What's your sister like? You said I remind you of her." asked Silica. The others drew closer probably hoping to hear the answer too.

Kirito seemed lost in thought for a sec. "I call her my little sister but really she's my cousin. We were raised as siblings since birth so I doubt she knows but that doesn't really matter to me. As far as I am concerned she IS my sister." Said Kirito as a smile appeared on his face and his eyes adopted a far away look.

"Because of everything going on I haven't been able to see her for almost a year and a half now." Continued Kirito the smile dropping from his face. "I hope she's ok."

Silence descended over the group bringing with it a solemn mood, everyone thinking of home and what was taken from them by SAO.

Surprisingly the youngest, Silica, was the first to speak. "You will see your family again I promise!"

"We got your back man." said Klein

"Just a few floors left." Said Agil resting a hand on Kirito's shoulder, "Maybe when this is all done you guys can meet my wife."

"Maybe." said Kirito, "but Agil you never said you were married."

To this Agil let out a deep laugh. "It never really came up, but yes I am married."

Klein grabbed a very confused Agil. "Your married! How could you betray me man! I thought I wasn't the only single guy here!" Klein then switched his sights to Diavel.

"Looks like it's just me and you now!" said Klein holding Diavel hand as tears streamed down his face.

"Well actually I have someone outside of Aincrad." said Diavel scratching the back of head while Agil chucked at Klein's antics.

At hearing Diavel's response Klein collapsed to the ground. "Why is life so unfair!" he shouted toward the heavens.

Silica stood to one side confused before turning to Agil. "Is he going to be ok?"

"Just give him a little while." said Agil before he followed Kirito and Diavel who seemed to be ignoring Klein's metal breakdown and continuing the journey being very much use to Klein at this point.

The depressing mood seemed to be gone at least. Maybe she could continue adventuring with them after they revived Pina. It was refreshing not to be just view as a mascot and they were definitely a fun group of guys. Just a little farther and the flower will be theirs and she could see Pina again.

* * *

Getting the flower was no real problem for the group, but they insisted that Silica should wait to they got back to town before using it.

On the way back the group was walking across a bridge when Kirito held his hand up for them to stop.

"You can come out now." shouted Kirito. From behind one of the trees up ahead Rosealia stepped out.

"You spotted me! Good job." said Rosealia with a dark chuckle, "Now hand over the flower before any of you get hurt."

"We aren't giving anything to you or your orange guild Titan's Hand." said Diavel, "We know they're here and that you're their leader."

"But she's green." said Silica starting to panic.

"A standard trap. The Green leads people to the oranges in their guild." said Diavel as Agil took Silica gentally by the wrist and pulled her back while Klein, Diavel, and Kirito stepped forward.

Rosealia snapped her fingers and nine men wielding a variety of weapons stepped out to join her all had a orange courser hovering over their heads and wicked smiles on their faces.

"Lets try this again." said Rosealia, "Hand over the flower and you won't get hurt."

"Do you remember a guild called the silver flags?" asked Klein

Rosealia seemed confused for a second. "You mean the fools with no money? What do they have to do with this?"

"A lot. Their leader survived your little ambush and ran to us, the frontliners, for help. He wanted you sent to prison. Do you know how he felt losing four of his friends?" replied Klein in an even voice even he gripped the handle of his katana.

The Smiles dropped from the faces of Titan's Hand and a few even took a step or two back.

"Frontliners." one of them choked out, "No way."

"Is it true Kirito are you a frontliner?" said Silica.

"Wears all black, One sword, no shield. Dark skin, large axe. Wears blue, sword and shield. Samurai armor, Katana." said one of the orange players taking several steps back voice starting to gain a sense of fear to it.

"It's the Black Swordsmen and his guild." shouted another.

"Were so died!" shouted another

"There's no way a group of frontliners would take time to escort some little girl instead of clearing the game!" shouted Rosealia trying to regain control of the situation.

"You're right but we were sent to find you remember." said Kirito stepping forward, "Now surrender."

All the orange players but Rosealia dropped their weapons and surrendered not wanting to enrage a group of prominent cleaners.

"I'm green you won't attack me or..."

Rosealia sentence was cut off when Kirito jet forward and placed a sword to her throat.

"Do you really want to test that theory. I run the frontlines and I have no patience for those who target the weak for their own gains." Said Kirito dark eyes boring into Rosealia.

Klein used a corridor crystal he got from the guildmaster of the Silver Flags to send Rosealia and Titan's Hand to Prison before the group head back to town. The walk back was very quiet with none of the usual chatter.

* * *

Once they got to an Inn and rented a room Silica pulled out the flower and poured a drop of nector onto the feather she got from Pina after he shattered. A bright light filled the room and then disappeared into the body of a blue feathered Dragon.

"Pina." Shouted Silica grabbing Pina in a hug and crying tears of joy at seeing her dead friend revived, "I missed you!"

After the touching reunion Kirito kneeled next to Silica.

"Sorry we didn't tell you." said Kirito refusing to look her in the eyes.

"It's ok. You guys just wanted to help someone plus now Pina is back." said Silica with a smile trying to reassure him which was returned by Kirito.

"I just wish I could join you guys on the front." said Silica looking a little down.

Kirito looked over to the rest of the group. "Why don't you? I pretty sure Argo knows some good grinding locations and you're not that far behind the frontlines."

"Really?" asked Silica

"Sure you'll will fit right in." said Diavel

Pina at this point flew up to looked Kirito in eyes and fixed him with a stare as if asking _Are you trying to take my human?_

Kirito looked at Pina then at Silica who was talking with Agil while wearing a giant smile.

"She's all yours." said Kirito giving the winged lizard a nod which Pina returned. They seemed to have reach some form of an understanding and Kirito gained a new allie.

* * *

Heathcliff sat in the council chamber of the Knight Of the Blood Oath. The other four council members were unhappy that The Dragon Lords controlled the frontlines thought maybe they should try some form of a merge with The Dragon Lords as they did want to help clear the game faster. Heathcliff wasn't opposed to the idea as it would both help the transition when he revealed his little secret and it would also take some of the burden of command off his shoulders.

So many things had changed in his plans that he need to spend more and more time observing the other going ons in Aincrad. The dragons on floor eighty only grew stronger and now that floor was in open rebellion and floor seventy-eight wasn't much better.

Floor Seventy-Eight was almost totally mountains either controlled by the Dwarfs or the Goblins. Created so the players could jump into an ongoing conflict and help the dwarfs recapture their city's unlocking the floor on the way before a final confrontation with the boss. Unfortunately for that plan the mighty fire dragon that was supposed to support the Goblins as a field boss disappeared but not before putting most of the Goblin leadership to the torch.

Heathcliff laughed to himself. A deep dark chuckle. So much had changed from his original plans but twists and turns are what make a story interesting. Sure he could create an army of unstoppable monsters in a second or with just a few new lines of code reprogram one of the dragons personalities or if he wanted to snap his fingers and delete all that opposed him.

But why would he? When he created Aincrad he envisioned himself as its king he created rules for himself. He had an unlimited number of weak to medium strength underlings all he need was time for them to spawn. What he had a set value of was several powerful monsters on the one-hundredth floor. These monsters varied in shape, size, power, and race but they were all loyal to the Ruby King no matter what. He was wondering if he should send one to the seventy-eighth floor so it isn't a free floor for the players. The Eightieth floor he had to admit was a lost cause as he had already sent and lost one of his generals. Now he planed to use his pawns to at least try and remove future problems.

Heathcliff chuckled to himself again. If any of his men heard him they would definitely think he was some kind of villain and they wouldn't be wrong. It had been a while since he had played a strategy game and now the king must fight for his kingdom. The story is just getting better and better. Can the adventures and their new found allies slay the Ruby's Kings generals and defeat him or will they fall before him.

Heathcliff had long abandoned his original plans for the Dual Wielding hero of Aincrad facing off against the evil Ruby King as the main story. Now his Generals amassed their armies and waited for his orders. The Dragons on the Eightieth floor call for ancient allies to rise and join them as the Dwarfs push upwards to find glory and take back Aincrad for themselves all the while Kirito leads the Adventurous further and further up the floating castle. Dark forces within the adventurous themselves plot to make safe floors dangerous again and the elves long held their position of neutrality no matter who was incharge of Aincrad looks like it will stay firm for the time being.

Heathcliff let out his loudest laugh yet. Yes! What fun! The factions were all pursuing their own goals and he would have a front row seat to the epic story that SAO had become. His vision had changed but he had stopped caring for now it had become a much more interesting tale.

* * *

Sorry it's been awhile. With all the tests and homework I haven't written a chapter in a while and future updates will probably be sporadic at best. Anyways read and review if you would like and I hope you enjoyed it.


	13. Chapter 13

Kirito found himself leading his men through the floor fifty dungeon on one of the nicest days in Aincrad. The Weather was at its optimal condition, flowers were blooming and birds were singing their merry tunes. Perfect day to nap under a tree or have a picnic with Asuna but the KOB had been steadily gaining levels and to make sure they were the ones to kill the boss Argo had arranged for the entire guild's combat ready members to meet at the dungeon entrance to take the boss.

"Don't look so down man." said Klein

"Ya the boss can't take the whole day to kill." said Agil patting Kirito on the back.

"Hey Kirito." said Asuna flashing him a smile, "Once we finish this I made sandwiches so we can still make use of this perfect weather and have a picnic."

Kirito couldn't help but smile at the thought of Asuna's cooking. "If says so let's go." said Kirito picking up the pace slightly much to the amusement of his friends.

It wasn't long before they reached the massive double doors that made up the entrance to the boss room.

Agro turned to the rest of the group. "So the scouts have reported the boss is a massive metallic statue with six arms. So I think that means Agil wins this round."

There was some grumbling and money exchanged hands much to the confusing of Silica who decide to voice her question.

"What are you guys doing?"

"We make a bet on what the next floors boss is going to be based off hints given by quests and common floor monsters. Agil was the closest with living statue so he wins this floor's pot." said Diavel.

"Ya and Klein lost for cheating." said Argo chuckling slightly.

"Cheating?" asked Silica.

"My guess was foolproof and they claimed it was cheating so I lost." said Klein pouting a little.

"He guessed that the enemy would be a gigantic enemy with a weak point near the head or upper chest." said Asuna

Earning another confused look from Silica Asuna continued her explanation. "That's pretty much every boss so Klein was disqualified for being too vague."

"I still think it should have counted. It's not my fault that Kayaba designed every boss to be the size of a skyscraper." shouted Klein.

Now it was Kirito's turn to be confused. "What kind of monster is a skyscraper? Sounds dangerous to earn a name like that."

"Nope it's just a really tall building made of metal." chirped Argo

"Your world has the weirdest things like those horseless wagons that consumes liquefied animal remains to move." Said Kirito

"Ya. Ya. Our world is weird and maybe some day you can see it but for now let's just try and beat this boss." said Argo before going over the battle plan one last time.

With one heavy push the doors swung open revealing a what looked to be the inside of a temple. Rows of pillars lined each side before ending at a shrine at the far end of the room. Behind the shrine sat a giant statue. The boss appeared to be human in design but with two extra pairs of arms added onto its massive body. A necklace of sorts made of brown metal beads was wrapped around its neck with a large disk in the center with a symbol of Aincrad engraved on it. Its massive frame seemed to be praying before large rumbling sounds were heard as it pulled itself to its feet. Its top pair of hands unlocked themselves while rest continued to pray. Its mouth opens and the room shook as its loudly spook.

"Silly fools you dare rebel against this world chosen ruler! Now you have entered my domain and by the will of the gods and the Ruby King your chain of victories end here!"

"Get ready men and stick to the plan. Keita take command of the left side Asuna has right and I'll take center." shouted Diavel.

Kirito already knew his job and with a burst of speed he sprinted at the boss before jumping into the air and changing into a dragon mid flight intending to tackle the boss to the ground to make it easier and safer for his men to attack it.

"Foolish dragon I have centuries of combat experience over you and a complete immunity to fire! You are nothing!" shouted the boss as he sidestepped Kirito's lunge and delivered a heavy upper cut to Kirito's face knocking him back and through one of the pillars to his left.

Kirito stood up and ignoring the boss earlier bragging shot a get a black flames into the boss's face. So assured of himself the boss didn't even try and defend.

'Were you listening that's no-aghhs. How!" shouted the boss as the fire actually burned him though only a small chip was taken away for his first health bar.

With the boss distracted Kirito went for a trip with his tail knocking the statue over making a loud clanging as if a bell was hit before tackling him and pinning his arms to the ground while racking his back claws along the bosses stomach.

A sudden rainbow of colors flared up as the players finally arrived at the fight and started activating their sword skills in the boss undefended sides. Slowly but surely the boss's first bar was whittled down to nothing leaving only three more bars to go.

"That's it dragon! I was destroy you and your rebel army here and now!" shouted the boss.

The boss's second pair of hand unlatched themselves and immediately started delivering punishing blows to Kirito"s underbelly where his scaly armor wasn't as strong. Kirito responded by jumping back and off the boss while his men disengaged themselves and waited for the boss next attacks.

Kirito shot another jet of fire from his mouth doing some more damage as the boss stood up again. Once the boss was back on its feet it gave a mighty call. "God of earth hear me and assist me!" before the boss pounded the ground with his four active arms making a wave of rocks and debris shoot out in all directions throwing some of the players around like ragdolls.

A few players including Agil were either out of the range of the attack or had dodged in some way. With the boss momentarily stunned from his own attack they were quick to capitalize on the moment and launched a quick barrage of attacks on its arms. Agil's attack made a loud clang and a noticeable crack appear in the boss other wise spotless metal arm.

Yuuki had another idea as she ran up the arm to get higher up on the boss and swinging both swords in a circle lightshow she hit the center of the bosses necklace. Upon contact with the disk the boss let out a mighty yell before losing a significant amount of health.

"How dare you foolish girl! You disgrace your ancestors, the gods, and the Ruby King!"

Yuuki was soon forced to dodge as the boss made every attempt to crush her with its massive hands. The boss had her pinned and almost succeeded in crushing her had Diavel not rushed in with his shield ready to block the attack.

"Thanks Diavel! The center of his necklace is his weak point." Shouted Yuuki.

"Told you guys!" shouted Klein running past Yuuki followed closely by Argo and Aiko with the later stopping to check on her sister as the former shouted orders while throwing picks at the necklace which bounced harmlessly off it.

Kirito throw himself into the combat again taking the majority of the bosses attention and making sure it couldn't slam the ground again. His men taking the chance followed him and attack the bosses legs. Finally after several minutes of hard combat they removed the second bar of health and backed up to see how the boss would react. That was unfortunately the wrong move.

"Fools you are fighting a losing battle! God of wind lend me your strength!" shouted the boss unlocking his third and final pair of hands. With a wave of his hands a blast of wind fire forth from each hand. Kirito absorbed three hits throwing him backwards across the room just nearly missing a squad of healing players. One of the blasts hit a DPS unit sending them flying causing a few to shatter. The first casualties of the floor.

A second gust of wind was felt but this time from Kirito's side of the room. The dragon charging the boss and using his wings to get the speed he need to enter the the fight before the boss could recover from its attack.

"Whenever he chanel's magic through himself it is momentarily stunned so attack now!" shouted Kirito raking his claws along the boss as his fire breath went to work on the bosses necklace.

"Don't let him recover we don't want it doing another attack like that." said Asuna running up Kirito's back and using his head as a launch pad for her own attack on the statues face.

A war cry resounded around the room as the Dragon Lords throw themselves into the boss intending to avenge their downed comrades. Tanks cycled in and out under the command of Diavel and Keita while DPS players did the same under the command of Argo and Asuna.

The battle dragged on and slowly the third health bar was getting smaller and smaller.

"Fools a chicken without a head will still eventually die!" Shouted the boss much to the players confusion.

The boss started to fight back with more ferocity. With a mighty punch he knocked back Kirito but much to the surprise of the clears he didn't press the advantage he instead aimed for several player in the mass attacking his feet that seems to be giving orders.

The first to shatter under the new barrage was a tank that Kirito didn't know the name of but now wished he did. He was leading his squad to take the attack for a DPS unit and was surprised when the boss targeted him with all its might.

"He's targeting the leaders!" shouted one of the players.

Kirito again joined the combat pushing the statue back under the relentless assault of claws and wings but the boss forced himself past Kirito at went for Diavel who was currently trying to reorganize the players after the lose of several squad leaders.

"Now you foolish shielder die!" shouted the boss lunging forward with all his arms outstretched.

The first two attacks were blocked by Diavels shield but the third attack shattered his shield and the fourth throw Diavel back. Kirito in an effort to stop his friends death grabbed one of the bosses remaining arms mid attack but the last attack was heading to an undefeated Diavel. Sure of his kill the boss smiled and laughed.

"Duck!" shouted Agil as he drove his axe into the boss's arm. The arm completely disconnected itself from the rest of the statue with a sharp tearing sound before continue with its original path flying over the now ducking Diavel and into the far wall of the room going through a couple pillars on the way. Immediately the boss gave a growl of pain and his third health bar immediately dissipated.

The boss was stunned how could this happen. The scratch Agil had made at the beginning was slowly weakened by the constant attacks and Agil himself made sure to always hit it when he got the chance all in an effort to weaken the arm.

Kieta wasted no time positioning himself and his tank unit between the enraged boss and his downed commander while Kirito gave a mighty heave and throw the boss backwards.

"Fools you have given me no other option!" Shouted the boss holding the severed end of his arm.

"God of Fire protect me!" and suddenly the boss burst into flames, "Now you fools will burn."

The battle suddenly became more difficult. Everyone who wasn't Kirito had to cycle more often as the flames did damage to anyone who got to close and more than one clearer lost a weapon to the intense heat of the flames.

The boss for the most part only used four of his arms as his last one was trying to cover up the hole that had been created when his arm came off. Agil seemed to soaked up most of the bosses attention but he still targeted the other players.

The boss removed the hand that was guarding his severed arm and raised it to the sky.

"God of water freeze my…"

"Yuuki!" shouted Aiko drawing the boss attention to a black streak heading right for his severed arm and the hole into his body that it had created. With a scream of triumph Yuuki made it into the boss's hollow body before it could cover up the hole to stop her. She immediately started to chain her duel wielding sword skills causing huge damage to the bosses interior and health.

The fourth health bar fell at an unusually fast rate reaching zero in only a minute or two.

"I'm sorry my king. This old fool has failed you." whispered the giant statue before it shattered and its soul was rejoined with the spirits.

Yuuki dropped to the ground from her place in the air where the boss had once been and she went to rejoin the now human Kirito and other leaders of the Dragon Lords.

"That could have gone better." said Diavel mournfully

"How many?" asked Keita

"Ten people." replied Argo solemnly

"If we had better tanks maybe less would have been killed." said Agil

"The best tanks tend to join the KOB who market themselves with the best tank in Aincrad, Heathcliff. I know you don't trust him Kirito but the KOB might be a strong allies" said Argo.

"As much as Heathcliff puts me off me out I think we should ask for his help." declared Kirito after a second or two of thought, "But now is not the time for that lets rest and relax. Celebrate our victory and remembers those who died today to give us one more floor on the path to your freedom."

"Um Kirito." said Yuuki sheepishly, "I kind of destroyed both of my swords and all my backups inside the boss and even though I got a new sword from the boss as the Last Attack Bonus I still need at least one more."

Kirito seems to be lost in thought for a sec. "Ok we don't have that many high level smiths in the guild but their might be a quest on this floor that drops a good sword."

"I might know someone who can help with your problem." Spoke Asuna shyly, "She's a pretty good smith."

"You know a high level smith and didn't think to introduce us to her before this?" asked Argo

"It was nice to have a friend outside of the guild to you know, talk to when I need too but she is one of the best I can assure you. Just don't do anything weird." said Asuna shooting Argo and Kirito a dirty look.

"Kii-bou it's almost like she doesn't trust us," said Argo trying her best to sound hurt and she might have succeeded if not for the smile on her face.

"Sure thing Asuna, but that's a trip for another day let's just relax today. I pretty sure you promised me a picnic Asuna" Said Kirito heading for the exit to floor fifty-one followed closely by his friends and comrades.

The clearest had finished half of Aincrad and it only took a little over a year if they could keep this up they would be free in no time. Unfortunately for them plans were already in mission that threaten to bring their clearing speed to a screeching halt.

* * *

In the network of caves that made up floor seventy-eight Meeir BronzeBreaker looked at his men. Meeir was your standard dwarf commander. A little round around the edged and happiest with a jug in one hand and an axe in the other but he wasn't a bad guys by any means.

Meeir looked at his regiment as they finished rebuilding defenses after the last goblin attack a couple of days ago.

"Some reinforcements would be nice but we should be good for another couple of days." said Meeir taking a swig from the jug of alcohol he had next to him. Lately the goblins and orcs have been more and more viscous in their attacks. It was like something or someone was whipping them into a frenzy. The dwarf army were still managing to hold them back but advancing had slowed to a crawl.

A trumpet blew in the distance sounding a call to arms and warning another attack was on its way. Suddenly out of nowhere a swarm of bats appeared around cavern's ceiling. From this swarm dropped pale skinned warriors in blood red armor onto the unexpecting dwarfs below.

"What!" shouted Meeir in alarm sitting up from his chair and grabbing his axe clearly his men need help to fight back this attack.

Unfortunately for his men he would never make it to the field of battle. Meeir had gone no more than four steps when he felt a sword pierced his back. Looking down he saw a blood red rapier jetting from his front breastplate.

"Hello dwarf." said a raspy voice behind him. It sound like his assailant was almost spitting out the word dwarf. Meeir looked over his shoulder at the pale skinned attacker who smiled revealing fanged teeth. Vampire! What were vampires doing here and why were they helping the goblins.

Taking one last look at the battlefield Meeir saw as his men were cut down by the frenzied goblins in front or the vampires attacking from behind and above.

"Why?" was all he managed to croak out before he too shattered joining his men in the after life never to retrieve an answer to his question.

The Vampire raised his hands to the sky a crazed grin plastered on his face.

"My lord! I thank you for this wonderful feast and I am honored by the chance to prove myself useful!" shouted the vampire, "Now time for me to join the feast."

The Ruby king had made his move and the adventurous below were none the wiser as the difficulty of clearing Aincrad stepped up a peg.


End file.
